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Being hit by a drunk driver is different from most other car accidents. In addition to the physical injuries and financial losses that follow a crash, there is often frustration knowing the collision could have been prevented if the other driver had made a responsible decision.
If you were injured by an impaired driver, you have the right to pursue compensation through a personal injury claim. That claim is separate from any criminal charges the driver may face, and its purpose is to help you recover the financial and personal losses caused by the crash.
At Conner, Marr & Pinski, we represent people who have been injured in drunk driving accidents throughout Montana. Whether the collision happened in Great Falls, Helena, Kalispell, Butte, Havre, Anaconda, or another community across the state, our attorneys help clients understand their legal options and pursue compensation from negligent drivers and their insurance companies.
What Makes a Drunk Driving Accident Different From Other Car Accident Claims?
Every driver has a responsibility to operate a vehicle safely and obey Montana’s traffic laws. Choosing to drive after consuming alcohol places everyone on the road at unnecessary risk because alcohol affects judgment, reaction time, coordination, and the ability to recognize hazards. Those impairments often contribute to crashes involving excessive speed, drifting across the center line, running stop signs, or failing to brake before impact.
Although a drunk driving accident begins the same way as most personal injury claims by proving another driver’s negligence caused the crash, these cases frequently involve additional evidence that may not exist after other types of collisions. Police investigations, field sobriety testing, breath or blood alcohol testing, witness statements, and criminal court proceedings can all become important parts of understanding what happened.
Your health should always come first after a collision. Even if you believe your injuries are minor, seeking medical attention creates a record of your condition and allows doctors to identify injuries that may not be immediately obvious. Head injuries, internal bleeding, spinal injuries, and soft tissue damage sometimes become more noticeable hours or days after an accident.
If you are able, photographs of the vehicles, roadway, skid marks, debris, and visible injuries can help preserve important evidence. Contact information for witnesses may also become valuable later if questions arise about how the collision occurred. Insurance companies frequently contact injured drivers soon after a collision. Before providing recorded statements or accepting a settlement offer, it is important to understand the full extent of your injuries and whether future medical treatment or time away from work may still be ahead.
Yes. If a drunk driver’s negligence caused your injuries, Montana law generally allows you to pursue a civil personal injury claim seeking compensation for the losses you suffered.
Many people assume the criminal DUI case automatically resolves the financial side of the accident, but criminal and civil proceedings serve different purposes. A criminal prosecution focuses on whether the driver violated Montana law and what penalties should apply. A personal injury claim focuses on the injured person’s damages, including medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and other losses caused by the crash. Because these are separate legal proceedings, your ability to pursue compensation does not necessarily depend on the outcome of the criminal case.
Crashes involving impaired drivers often occur at higher speeds or under circumstances where the driver never attempts to avoid the collision. Alcohol slows reaction time and reduces awareness, making head-on collisions, wrong-way crashes, and high-impact accidents more likely than many other types of motor vehicle collisions.
Those crashes frequently result in traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, multiple fractures, internal organ damage, severe neck and back injuries, burns, and permanent disabilities requiring extensive rehabilitation. Some victims are unable to return to the same career they held before the accident, while others require ongoing medical treatment for years after the collision.
Understanding the long-term effects of these injuries is an important part of determining the value of a personal injury claim. Looking only at immediate medical expenses rarely reflects the full impact a serious crash has on someone’s future.
Building a strong injury claim often requires collecting evidence from multiple sources before it becomes unavailable. Police crash reports, witness statements, photographs, surveillance video, dash camera footage, and medical records all help explain how the collision occurred and how it affected the injured person.
Drunk driving cases may also involve evidence unique to impaired driving investigations, including breath or blood alcohol test results, field sobriety testing, body camera footage, and observations documented by responding law enforcement officers. In some cases, electronic data from the vehicles involved or accident reconstruction analysis may also help establish how the collision happened.
Gathering this information early can make a significant difference because some evidence is preserved only for a limited period of time before it is overwritten, discarded, or becomes more difficult to obtain.
Conner, Marr & Pinski represents people injured by drunk drivers throughout Montana. Our attorneys handle cases across the state. Whether the collision happened on Interstate 90, a rural highway, a city street, or a county road, we work to identify the parties responsible, preserve critical evidence, and pursue compensation that reflects the full impact of our clients’ injuries.
Because serious accidents often require ongoing medical care and extensive financial recovery, we take the time to understand how each injury has affected our client’s health, employment, and daily life before evaluating settlement offers or preparing a case for litigation.
Recovering from a drunk driving accident involves more than repairing a damaged vehicle. Medical treatment, time away from work, insurance claims, and uncertainty about the future can all create additional stress while you are trying to heal.
Conner, Marr & Pinski represents injured people throughout Montana and offers free consultations for individuals and families who have been hurt by impaired drivers. If you were injured in a drunk driving accident anywhere in Montana, contact our office to discuss your case and learn more about the legal options that may be available to you.
