Winston-Salem Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer
Being hurt by someone who chose to drive impaired adds a hard layer of frustration to the pain and the bills. A Winston-Salem drunk driving accident lawyer can help you pursue compensation from the driver and every other source North Carolina law allows.
A drunk driving crash claim runs alongside a criminal case, and the two follow different rules and timelines. Lewis & Keller Injury Lawyers handles the civil side, so you’re not left coordinating police reports, insurers, and court dates on your own. Get your free case review today.
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Our personal injury attorneys have years and years of experience fighting insurance companies and have successfully handled thousands of cases.
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Working on a contingency-fee basis allows our clients to retain our services without worrying about hourly legal fees. You won’t owe us a penny unless we win!
- How a Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Helps Your Winston-Salem Claim
- How Does North Carolina Define Impaired Driving?
- What Damages Can You Recover in a Drunk Driving Injury Claim?
- our Winston-salem Drunk Driving accident attorneys
- See What Our Clients Say
- Contributory Negligence and Why Impairment Changes the Analysis
- Can a Bar or Restaurant Be Responsible for a Drunk Driving Crash?
- Our Results Speak For themselves
- Insurance Coverage When the Drunk Driver Is Underinsured
- What Evidence Can Help Prove a Drunk Driving Injury Claim?
- Why Choose Lewis & Keller Injury Lawyers After a Drunk Driving Crash
- FAQs: Winston-Salem Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer
- Talk With a Winston-Salem Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Today
How a Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Helps Your Winston-Salem Claim
A Winston-Salem drunk driving accident lawyer builds the civil injury claim against the impaired driver and anyone else responsible, separate from the criminal prosecution. The criminal case decides punishment, and the civil claim seeks payment for your medical care, lost income, and other losses.
Your lawyer gathers the evidence from both, values the personal injury claim, and negotiates or files suit.
The Work That Happens Behind the Claim
Much of a drunk driving case is building the record of the driver’s impairment and the full cost of your injuries. That means obtaining the crash report and chemical test results, tracking the criminal case, identifying every insurance policy, and documenting your treatment and lost work as it happens.
If a bar or restaurant may share responsibility, the investigation also extends to where the driver was drinking.
How Does North Carolina Define Impaired Driving?
Under G.S. 20-138.1, a person commits impaired driving by driving on a highway, street, or public vehicular area while under the influence of an impairing substance, or after drinking enough to have an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more at any relevant time after driving.
Driving with any amount of a Schedule I controlled substance or its metabolites in the blood or urine also qualifies.
That definition matters in a civil claim because it opens the door to remedies that ordinary negligence does not. A driver’s impairment can support punitive damages and remove the usual cap.
The Criminal Case and Your Civil Claim
Impaired driving is prosecuted as a misdemeanor in most cases, and in Forsyth County, the District Attorney for Prosecutorial District 31 handles it. A conviction is not required to bring a civil claim, and the civil case uses a lower standard of proof for most issues.
Records from the criminal case, such as test results and officer reports, can still become important evidence in your claim.
What Damages Can You Recover in a Drunk Driving Injury Claim?
A drunk driving injury claim can include compensatory damages for your losses and, in some cases, punitive damages to punish the impaired driver. The value of a claim depends on the injuries, how they affect your work and daily life, and the coverage available, so no amount is certain in any case.
Compensatory Damages
Compensatory damages commonly include medical bills, future treatment and therapy, lost wages, reduced future earning capacity, pain and suffering, permanent injury or scarring, and vehicle and property damage.
The property damage claim for your car usually moves on a faster track than the injury claim, and settling it doesn’t have to settle your injury claim.
Some of the largest losses in a serious crash are the ones still ahead, such as follow-up surgery or a job you can no longer perform. We work with your treating providers and, where needed, vocational or economic professionals to document those future costs before the claim is valued.
Punitive Damages
North Carolina allows punitive damages when a claimant proves by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with fraud, malice, or willful or wanton conduct, under G.S. 1D-15. Punitive damages are normally capped, but G.S. 1D-26 removes that cap when the defendant’s driving would give rise to an impaired driving offense.
Punitive damages are never automatic. A jury decides whether to award them and how much, and the strength of the evidence of impairment plays a large role in whether the claim is worth pursuing.
| Feature | Compensatory Damages | Punitive Damages |
| Purpose | Pay for the losses the crash caused | Punish and deter willful or wanton conduct |
| What you must prove | The driver’s negligence caused your injuries | Liability for compensatory damages plus fraud, malice, or willful or wanton conduct |
| Standard of proof | Greater weight of the evidence | Clear and convincing evidence |
| Usual limit | Not capped | The greater of three times compensatory damages or $250,000 |
| Impaired driving exception | Not applicable | The cap does not apply when the driving would give rise to an impaired driving offense |
our Winston-salem Drunk Driving accident attorneys
See What Our Clients Say
Contributory Negligence and Why Impairment Changes the Analysis
North Carolina is one of a small number of states that still applies contributory negligence. In an ordinary crash, a claimant whose own negligence was a proximate cause of the collision recovers nothing, rather than a reduced share. It’s a major defense in North Carolina auto accident claims, and insurers often raise it early.
Impaired-driving cases are the clearest exception. Contributory negligence doesn’t bar recovery against a defendant whose conduct was willful or wanton rather than merely careless, and the same evidence that supports a punitive damages claim often supports that argument.
A driver who chose to drive while impaired can be found to have acted with a conscious disregard for the safety of others, which can leave the defense unavailable.
That doesn’t make the issue disappear. Whether conduct rises to willful or wanton is decided on the facts, and an insurer will still probe speed, lane position, and phone use in the first recorded call.
The last clear chance doctrine provides a separate route where a driver had a real opportunity to avoid the collision and didn’t take it. Each of these turns on evidence that is easier to secure in the first weeks than months later.
Can a Bar or Restaurant Be Responsible for a Drunk Driving Crash?
A bar or restaurant can be held responsible for a drunk driving crash if it negligently serves alcohol to someone under 21 who then causes an accident while impaired. North Carolina’s dram shop statute, G.S. 18B-121, allows injured people to bring these claims against alcohol permit holders.
The statutory dram shop claim has specific rules that shape how these cases are investigated:
- The injured person must prove the sale or furnishing was negligent under the circumstances.
- Proof that the business sold to an underage person without asking for identification is admissible as evidence of negligence.
- The business can offer evidence of good practices, such as staff training and ID checks, or that the underage person misrepresented their age.
- Total damages for all injured people under this statute are limited to $500,000 per occurrence.
Separately, it’s unlawful for a permit holder or employee to knowingly sell or give alcohol to an intoxicated person. Whether that violation supports a claim in your case depends on what the business knew, so receipts, tabs, and surveillance video from the bar become key evidence.
Businesses are not required to retain that video indefinitely, which is why we send a preservation letter early in any case where the driver was drinking at a bar or restaurant. Learn more about how bars are held accountable for drunk driving accidents.
Our Results Speak For themselves
$
7000000
Motorcycle accident resulting in paralysis.
$
3000000
Auto accident resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder.
$
1393000
Workplace accident resulting in a traumatic brain injury.
Insurance Coverage When the Drunk Driver Is Underinsured
The impaired driver’s liability insurance is the first source of payment, and your own auto policy often has to cover the rest. North Carolina’s minimum bodily injury liability limits under G.S. 20-279.21 are currently $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident, which can fall far short in a serious crash.
These coverages commonly come into play in Winston-Salem drunk driving claims:
- The impaired driver’s bodily injury liability coverage.
- Liability coverage on the vehicle, if the owner is someone other than the driver.
- Your Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) coverage, if the driver had no insurance or not enough to cover your damages.
- MedPay payments coverage if you carry it.
What Evidence Can Help Prove a Drunk Driving Injury Claim?
Police reports, chemical test results, witness statements, and medical records can help prove that a driver was impaired and document the losses caused by the crash.
Some of this evidence is controlled by police or prosecutors, while other records may be held by businesses that won’t keep them forever:
- The crash report and the officer’s observations of the driver.
- Chemical analysis results for breath or blood, and the charging documents.
- Dashcam and body camera video from responding officers.
- Receipts, bar tabs, and surveillance video from where the driver had been drinking.
- 911 calls and statements from witnesses who saw the driver before the crash.
- Your medical records, bills, and proof of lost income.
Witnesses Who Saw the Driver Before the Crash
Other drivers often notice an impaired driver before a crash happens, and their 911 calls can document the driving pattern. Our guide on what to do when you encounter a drunk driver in Winston-Salem explains how those reports are made.
Why Choose Lewis & Keller Injury Lawyers After a Drunk Driving Crash
Lewis & Keller Injury Lawyers handles car accident and workers’ compensation claims for people in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. That combination matters in drunk driving cases, where an injured worker may have both a workers’ compensation claim and a claim against the impaired driver.
What You Can Expect From Our Team
We follow the criminal case, collect evidence, deal with every insurer, and keep you updated as the claim moves forward. We bring the same experience handling Winston-Salem car accident claims to cases involving impaired drivers.
Results depend on the facts of each case, and we’ll tell you plainly what we see in yours. Reach out through our online form to start your free case review.
FAQs: Winston-Salem Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer
Do I have to wait for the DWI case to end before filing an injury claim?
Your injury claim and the criminal DWI case are separate, and your insurance claim can start right away. Your lawyer may take certain timely steps around the criminal case to use the records it produces, but the civil filing deadline keeps running regardless of where the prosecution stands.
How do I get a copy of my crash report in North Carolina?
The North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles provides redacted crash reports to people involved in a crash, by mail or in person, using the Crash Report Request form (TR-67A). Individuals can’t order a crash report online through NCDMV. Your lawyer can also request the report as part of the claim.
What if a drunk driver hit me while I was working?
You may have two claims if you were hit by an impaired driver while on the job. North Carolina’s Workers’ Compensation Act lets an injured employee receive benefits and also pursue a claim against a third party, such as an impaired driver.
Should I talk to the drunk driver’s insurance company?
You can report the claim to the correct insurer, but you’re not required to give the at-fault driver’s insurer a statement. Adjusters use early statements to evaluate your injuries before their full extent is known. Speaking with a Winston-Salem drunk driving accident lawyer first protects your claim.
How much does a Winston-Salem drunk driving accident lawyer cost?
Lewis & Keller Injury Lawyers handles injury claims on a contingency fee basis, meaning you only pay if we win. Your consultation is free, too.
Talk With a Winston-Salem Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Today
An impaired driver’s choices should not leave you paying for the consequences. Lewis & Keller Injury Lawyers can review the crash, track the criminal case, and pursue compensation from every source the law allows.
Contact our Winston-Salem team today for a free case review.
