Our lawyers who represent people who were injured in drunk driving accidents know that the sad reality, is that drunk drivers often do not have sufficient insurance to cover the damage they cause. To make sure that our clients get compensated as fully as possible our lawyers, explore every avenue.  The driver, who was intoxicated can obviously be sued, as can the owner of the vehicle. Under New York's law the owner of the vehicle is responsible for the negligent actions of anyone that they allow to operate their vehicle. Also, New York's Dram Shop law allows a commercial establishment to be sued if they made an illegal sale of alcohol, which resulted in a personal injury. A commercial establishment means any business that is licensed to sell alcohol, including a liquor store, a bar, tavern or nightclub. Under New York law it is illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under twenty one years of age, or to sell additional alcohol, if a person is already intoxicated. So if you were injured in an alcohol related crash with a drunk driver, our New York City and Westchester car accident lawyers can sue whatever business sold the alcohol to the underaged drinker. Our New York car accident lawyers, have used New York's Dram Shop laws on countless ocassions to make sure that our personal injury clients get the compensation that they deserve. Our New York drunk driving injury lawyers know how to prove dram shop cases.  If the driver had a high blood alcohol level, whatever bars contributed to the intoxication can be sued. Usually in drunk driving crashes, during the arrest the police will administer a blood alcohol test, which will document what the driver's blood alcohol level was. Our New York drunk driving accident lawyers often work with forensic toxicologists to calculate what the person's blood alcohol level was while they were consuming alcohol and can demonstrate what signs of intoxication the person was displaying, based upon their blood alcohol level. 

One of the most frequent questions our Westchester drunk driving accident lawyers are asked is, "I got hurt by a drunk driver, who has nothing and only a minimum insurance policy, am I only going to get the twenty five thousand dollar minimum?" The answer is that if you paid for good insurance, then no, you can go after your own insurance also, through a supplementary underinsured motorist claim. Our drunk driving accident attorneys, also will pursue supplementary under insured motorists claims on your behalf. Our attorneys know that it is the best practice to pursue all possible remedies for someone who was injured by a drunk driver. New York has laws which protect people who pay for high insurance limits and are injured by irresponsible drivers with lower insurance limits. This allows you to seek compensation from your own insurance company, and the insurance company for any car registered to your household, up to the policy limits of that policy. In general, your own insurance company would have to step into the shoes of the insurance company of the driver that was responsible for the crash and pay you up to the maximum limits of the insurance policy. 

If you have been injured in a drunk driving accident in Westchester, contact our White Plains law office for a free consultation at (914) 574-8330. If you were involved in a drunk driving accident, in New York City, call our Manhattan law office for a free consultation at (212) 858-0503.