Personal Injury Attorney John Kelly discusses what to do if you have sustained injuries from a drunk driver accident in Phoenix. John Kelly
Kelly Law Team
One East Washington Street
Suite #1520
Phoenix, AZ 85004
602-283-4122
Hello, this is John Kelly of the Kelly Law Team. I want to talk to you about drunk driver accidents.
If you were injured by a driver that was either drunk or impaired, I can understand the tremendous frustration that you must have with someone on the road in that condition. I actually have a unique circumstance. I used to be a prosecutor at the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and used to prosecute DUI cases. This gives me a unique perspective, because in any drunk driving case when there's an accident, you're going to have very likely a criminal investigation, which could eventually end up in a conviction for the defendant, and also, you have the potential to bring a civil claim. Whereas now, I'm doing the civil claims to get monetary compensation for my clients, my perspective on the DUI cases with the criminal side helps me to make sure that we're taking into account what that can help for your civil case.
So there are circumstances that if we can show that the person that hit you was convicted for a DUI, you may actually take that conviction and get more value for your claim, your civil side of your claim, as an aggravating circumstance. And if you take it to trial, you may even get punitive damages.
To bolster your claim on the civil side, there are certain things that you can do. You always want to obtain the full police report and all the records, the supplements that go along with it. You may want to actually go to the scene and take your own photographs. You want to get witness statements. You want to document what you've been through. And you want to make sure that you're putting all this together so that you can establish liability. Especially if there's a unique circumstance where there's disputed liability, the more evidence that you can have, the more documentation, the more witness statements, the better to overcome those liability issues. You can then move on to your damages, which is to make sure that you're going to your doctors' visits, collecting your records, and making a claim with the insurance company of the person that hit you.
There's a lot to go over with a DUI case, and if you would like to talk to me further about that scenario, I'm happy to give you a free consultation. You can call me at 602-283-4122.
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