Suspected impaired driver in North Texas (2): the bar may also be responsible
FOX 4 reported a crash involving a suspected impaired driver in North Texas on September 1, 2024. Someone was hurt. We had no involvement in it and we are not going to speculate about the facts. What we can do is set out the legal questions an incident of this kind raises in Texas, because families dealing with one are usually working it out from scratch at the worst possible moment.
The criminal case does not pay for anything
When an impaired driver injures someone, two entirely separate processes begin. The State may prosecute. Whatever that produces — a plea, a conviction, jail — compensates the injured family for nothing.
The civil claim is the one that pays medical bills and replaces lost income, and it proceeds on its own track under a lower standard of proof.
You usually should not wait
People assume the criminal case has to finish first. It generally does not, and waiting is actively harmful: the civil deadline keeps running and the evidence keeps degrading. A conviction is useful but not required, because the civil burden is lower — a driver acquitted, or never charged, can still be held civilly liable.
The bar may also be responsible
Texas dram shop law permits a claim against a licensed establishment that sold or served alcohol to someone already obviously intoxicated to the point of presenting a clear danger. This matters practically: an individual driver often carries minimum limits that come nowhere near the cost of a catastrophic injury, while a commercial establishment typically carries far more.
These claims run on perishable proof — point-of-sale records, interior surveillance footage, server testimony and training records. Interior video in particular is routinely overwritten within days, which is why a preservation demand cannot wait for the criminal case to resolve.
Exemplary damages
Texas permits damages intended to punish rather than compensate where conduct exceeds ordinary negligence. Drunk driving is among the clearest examples, though they carry a higher burden of proof and statutory limits.
Finding the insurance is often the case
In serious collisions, liability is frequently obvious and the real work is establishing what coverage exists. Texas requires only modest minimum liability limits, and a single hospital admission can exceed them.
- Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which exists for exactly this gap.
- Medical payments or PIP, which pays regardless of fault and arrives early.
- An employer’s policy, if the at-fault driver was working at the time.
- Commercial or umbrella policies sitting behind a personal one.
- A vehicle owner who entrusted the car to someone unfit to drive it.
One warning that costs people real money: do not settle with the at-fault driver’s insurer without your own underinsured carrier’s written consent. Doing so can void that larger claim.
The deadline is shorter than two years in more cases than people think
The general limitations period for a Texas personal injury suit is two years from the incident, and the same period generally governs wrongful death. That is the number everyone has heard.
The number that catches families out is the other one. Claims against a city, county, transit authority, school district or other governmental unit require formal written notice within a short statutory window, and municipal charters frequently require less — sometimes a matter of weeks. Miss it and an otherwise strong claim can be barred long before the two-year period runs.
Government involvement is not always obvious. A road defect, a work zone under public contract, a public vehicle, a transit bus, or a municipal employee running an errand all bring those rules into play. If there is any prospect of it, the matter should be assessed in the first weeks.
What families ask first
Two questions come up in almost every call. What does this cost? Most injury matters are handled on a contingency fee — nothing upfront, and no fee unless there is a recovery. How long will it take? That depends on the severity of the injuries, how clear the liability evidence is, and whether the insurer negotiates in good faith. The one thing that should not be rushed is settling before the medical picture is clear.
Reporting that prompted this post
We write about incidents reported in the local press to explain the legal questions they raise. We don’t represent anyone involved unless we say so.
Our Garland injury attorneys handle matters like this every day. The case review is free.
This post is general information about Texas law, not legal advice about your situation, and reading it doesn’t make us your attorneys. Every case turns on its own facts.
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