The December and New Years holiday are time of year which can be an extremely dangerous time for vehicle occupants, motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians. The tendency to consume alcohol at family gatherings, office Christmas parties and New Year’s Eve parties lead to a surge in alcohol-related crashes. Accident statistics from the recent Thanksgiving weekend, for example, reveals that 19 people died and 260 more were injured in collisions. Our Atlanta Drunk Driving Accident Attorneys at Montlick and Associates are saddened by these reports and concerned about accident victims and their families.
Individuals may be entitled to financial compensation for injuries suffered in a crash with an intoxicated driver. However, many motorists involved in DUI/DWI accidents lack a valid driver’s license which means they might be driving without insurance. Even if the fault of an alcohol impaired driver is patently clear, this provides little solace to personal injury victims and families of wrongful death victims when the driver has no insurance or non-exempt assets against which a settlement or judgment can be enforced. These are situations where it can be very important to have uninsured/undersinsured motorist coverage.
Additionally, Dram Shop Liability and Social Host liability are important issues during this time of the year that can potentially provide other sources of financial recovery. These rules are designed to hold individuals, organizations and businesses that furnish alcohol to others financially responsible for the injuries they cause in traffic collisions under certain circumstances. While dram shop liability imposes liability on commercial establishments that profit from the sale of alcoholic beverages, social host liability defines the circumstances where liability can be imposed when alcohol is provided without seeking a profit.
Entities like private individuals, businesses and other organization might be financially liable for a collision when they provide alcohol to someone who causes serious injury in a motor vehicle accident in either of the following situations:
• Alcohol is served to someone noticeably intoxicated with knowledge the person will be driving; or
• Alcohol is provided to an underage drinker with knowledge that he or she will be driving.
When holiday parties end in fatal drunk driving crashes, the lives of the accident victim, drunk driver and families of both are changed forever. Because we see far too many victims of intoxicated drivers, we urge our friends, neighbors, family and community members to drink responsibility and to never drink and drive so that they can experience a safe holiday season.
Put Our Law Firm’s Over 39 Years Experience to Work For You!
If you or someone close to you is injured of a loved one dies in a DUI crash or other type of auto accident here in Georgia, our Atlanta car accident lawyers at Montlick and Associates have been representing injury victims for over thirty years throughout all of Georgia and the Southeast, including but not limited to Albany, Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Gainesville, Macon, Marietta, Rome, Roswell, Savannah, Smyrna, Valdosta, Warner Robins and all smaller cities and rural areas in the state.
No matter where you are located our attorneys are just a phone call away, and we will even come to you. Call us 24 hours a day/7 days a week for your Free Consultation at 1-800-LAW-NEED (1-800-529-6333). You can also visit us online at www.montlick.com and use our Free Case Evaluation Form or 24-hour Live Online Chat.
