Yes, a DUI can affect your personal injury case. How it affects your case depends entirely on who got the DUI. If a drunk driver hits you, the charge can strengthen your personal injury claim and even open the door to damages that Louisiana rarely allows. If you’re the one who was charged, recovering compensation gets harder, though not always impossible. A Lake Charles criminal defense lawyer can tell you where your case falls after looking at the facts.
What counts as a DUI in Louisiana?
Louisiana law actually calls it operating while impaired, or OWI, though most folks around here say DUI or DWI, and it all means the same thing. Under La. R.S. 14:98, a driver commits the offense when they’re impaired by alcohol or drugs, or when their blood alcohol concentration is 0.08 percent or higher. A first conviction carries real penalties: fines, jail time of ten days to six months, and license consequences that grow if the blood alcohol level was 0.15 or above.
That’s the criminal side. Your injury claim lives on the civil side, and the two connect in ways that matter.
How does the other driver’s DUI strengthen your claim?
When a drunk driver causes a car accident, their DUI helps your civil case in two big ways.
First, it’s powerful evidence of fault. Blood alcohol results, field sobriety tests, the officer’s observations, and especially a conviction or guilty plea all help establish that the other driver was negligent. Insurance companies know how a drunk driving accident looks to a Calcasieu Parish jury, and that reality shapes negotiations from day one.
Second, Louisiana allows exemplary damages in these cases. That’s rare; our state generally doesn’t permit punitive awards in civil lawsuits. But under Civil Code article 2315.4, when a drunk driver’s wanton or reckless disregard for others causes your injuries, a jury can award extra damages meant to punish the conduct, on top of what compensates you.
What’s the difference between a criminal case and a civil case?
They’re separate tracks in the legal system. The criminal case is the state punishing the drunk driver, such as fines, jail, and license suspension. It doesn’t pay your medical bills. The civil lawsuit is how an accident victim recovers what the crash actually cost them.
The standards of proof differ, too. Prosecutors must prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, while civil claims only require showing it’s more likely than not that the drunk driver caused your injuries. That means your personal injury lawsuit can succeed even if the criminal charges get reduced or dismissed.
One thing you shouldn’t do is wait for the criminal case to finish. For crashes on or after July 1, 2024, Louisiana generally gives you two years to file (a recent extension from the old one-year rule), but evidence fades much faster than deadlines arrive.
What if you’re the one who was charged with DUI?
That can complicate things, but it doesn’t automatically end your claim. For crashes on or after January 1, 2026, Louisiana uses modified comparative fault: if you’re less than 51 percent at fault, your compensation is reduced by your share of the blame, but at 51 percent or more, you recover nothing. Crashes before that date fall under the old rule, where partial fault only reduced your recovery.
There’s a separate bar aimed specifically at impaired drivers, too. Louisiana law bars recovery when the injured driver was at 0.08 or above, was more than 25 percent at fault, and their impairment contributed to the crash. Where those pieces don’t all line up — say the other driver ran a red light, and your blood alcohol level played no real role — you may still have a viable DUI injury case. Expect the insurance companies to lean hard on the charge either way, which makes early legal advice worth a lot.
What compensation can you recover in DUI accidents?
Cases involving impaired drivers cover the same losses as other personal injury claims, plus the possibility of exemplary damages: medical bills now and down the road, lost wages and reduced earning ability, property damage to your vehicle, and pain and suffering, the physical and emotional toll that doesn’t show up on a receipt.
Talk to a Lake Charles criminal defense attorney about your case
The Johnson Firm is a Lake Charles law firm that’s served Southwest Louisiana for more than four decades, and our team has handled plenty of cases involving impaired drivers on both sides of the equation. If a drunk driver changed your life, or a DUI charge is complicating your recovery, call (337) 333-4057 or contact us online for a free consultation.