$50M+ RECOVERED FOR CLIENTS
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Whenever you ride a motorcycle, you should look out for negligent drivers, especially drunk drivers who exceed the state’s legal blood alcohol content (BAC) limit. Unfortunately, motorcycle accidents occur for various reasons, and Florida holds the highest fatality rate in the nation for these incidents. Injuries can range from serious to catastrophic.
A drunk driver could change your life, and you will need an experienced motorcycle accident attorney to guide you through the legal process, who also understands the interplay between that and the effects of drunk driving on a case. At Herman & Wells, our Clearwater drunk driving motorcycle accident lawyer is available for a free case evaluation and could help you pursue fair compensation from the negligent driver.
Florida Statutes § 316.193 explains that any motorist who is impaired by alcohol or drugs and tests for a BAC of at least 0.08 grams of alcohol for every 100 ml of blood has committed a criminal act. If an impaired motorist caused your motorcycle crash, an injury attorney may help you seek additional compensation over a non-drunk driver in a civil matter.
This is accomplished by demonstrating that the motorist’s intoxication as well as the negligence was both the foreseeable and actual cause of your accident and injuries, which involves establishing that the driver had a duty to act reasonably while sharing the road and failed to do so.
After a Clearwater motorcycle crash involving a drunk driver, an attorney from our firm could help you determine how much compensation you require to offset expenses such as your medical bills, lost wages, disfigurement, emotional trauma, and loss of enjoyment of life. We are committed to pursuing a fair settlement through insurance negotiations or a suitable damages award through litigation.
When pursuing a claim after a drunk driving motorcycle accident, it’s important to understand the key legal concepts that could influence your ability to recover compensation.
Negligence per se means that if a defendant violates a law or statute, they are automatically considered negligent. If the defendant has been ticketed for breaking a law pertinent to the case, such as driving drunk, your attorney will not have to prove that they had a duty to you and breached it. Being found guilty of the ticket proves this breach, but your lawyer must still demonstrate that the defendant caused your injuries.
You have two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury claim for negligence if the accident occurred after March 24, 2023. This is specifically the statute of limitations for negligence claims against the negligent driver, not all personal injury claims, and there are exceptions, such as claims under underinsured motorist insurance. For accidents that happened before March 24, 2023, the statute of limitations for negligence claims was four years. Injuries covered by your own underinsured or uninsured motorist coverage in auto accidents still have a five-year statute of limitations, which has not changed.
Often, blame for an accident is not clear, and multiple parties may have committed negligent acts that contributed to the injuries. Florida accounts for these situations in its modified comparative negligence law, in which an injured motorcyclist can still recover damages if they are not more than 50 percent responsible for the accident. This law also changed in March of 2023 so it is very important to talk to an experienced specialist in these types of claims.
This means that a jury could determine that both the driver and motorcyclist were equally responsible for the crash, even if only the biker sustained injuries. Therefore, if the jury awards the motorcyclist $1 million in damages, but they find the motorcyclist 50 percent at fault, then the award would be reduced by 50 percent according to the biker’s percentage of fault. A lawyer from our Clearwater firm could help you fight the determination of assigned fault to you and the drunk driver in your motorcycle wreck case.
Intoxicated motorists pose a danger to everyone sharing the road. Motorcycle riders are especially vulnerable to severe injuries because they are not protected by the tons of metal that encase a driver in a car or truck.
At Herman & Wells, we are committed to getting you the compensation you deserve while helping you restore your dignity and confidence. Call now to schedule your free case evaluation with a Clearwater drunk driving motorcycle accident lawyer who could advocate for you.
