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Car Accidents : Car Accident Hit by a Drunk Driver

AUTO ACCIDENTS CAUSED BY DRUNK DRIVERS AND PUNITIVE DAMAGES

It seems clear that a person driving under the influence should be punished for the injuries that others suffer resulting from the intoxicated driving of that individual.  The form of punishment can differ, from criminal punishment to civil punishment.  The criminal punishment part is handled by the State while the civil punishment part can be handled by a West Palm Beach accident attorney.  Though both of these parties (State and your West Palm Beach accident attorney) can try and collect punitive damages, it is usually a West Palm Beach accident attorney that will try and collect punitive damages for a person injured by an intoxicated driver.  Punitive damages can be defined as damages awarded in a lawsuit as a punishment and example to others for malicious, evil or particularly fraudulent acts.  In a famous Florida case, it has been held that the jury should be allowed to consider a claim for punitive damages based on the defendant’s negligent conduct of driving while intoxicated.  Ingram v. Pettit, 340 So.2d 922 (Fla. 1976).  The court in the Ingram case stated that the voluntary act of driving “while intoxicated” evinces, without more, a sufficiently reckless attitude for a jury to be asked to provide an award of punitive damages if it determines that liability exists for compensatory damages and the victim proved traditional elements for punitive liability.  Compensatory damages are defined as damages recovered in payment for actual injury or economic loss.  For instance, if you were injured in a car accident and broke your leg and couldn’t return to work for six months, compensatory damages might be the award of amount needed to cure doctor’s bills, care needed to take care of you during an injured state, loss of income from not working, and even pain and suffering.  All these damage awards are intended to compensate you, as the injured for loss that was suffered.  However, punitive damages are intended to punish the wrongdoer and serve as an example to other, but have the corollary effect of benefitting the person injured. 

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Out of respect for our client's privacy we do not disclose exact amounts of dollars recovered, and although many of our recoveries are tremendous, we never feel that they are equal to the hardships our clients have suffered.

 Please remember, even though you may see a huge dollar verdict on an attorney’s web site you should not necessarily be lead to believe that the money was ever recovered. Ask the following questions: 1. Was the money ever collected? 2. Did the defendant ever come to court? 3. If they did come to court on the day of trial, were they represented by an attorney or not? 4. If the excess verdict (this means the verdict was larger than the insurance policy limits) was entered against a defendant who was insured, was the excess ever collected?