EXPERIENCED PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER SERVING ALL OF TEXAS
If you were hurt in a drunk driving crash in Irving, Texas, the days and weeks after the collision can feel completely overwhelming. You’re dealing with injuries, medical bills, insurance adjusters, and a legal system that moves on its own timeline — whether you’re ready or not. This post is written for people who want practical, specific guidance on how to protect their rights after a DUI or DWI crash, not a recycled overview of the legal process.
Dashner Law Firm | Irving Injury & Accident Attorney represents victims of drunk driving crashes throughout the DFW area. As someone who has worked these cases for years, I’ve seen the mistakes people make — some through no fault of their own — that cost them real money and real options. This guide covers what most other posts skip: the specific proof issues, the Texas statutes that actually matter, the insurance traps, and the questions you should ask any attorney before you hire them.
How Does Texas Law Treat DWI Accident Claims Differently Than Other Car Crashes?
Texas law distinguishes drunk driving accidents from ordinary car crashes in one significant way: the availability of punitive damages. Under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 41.003, a plaintiff can recover exemplary damages when they prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with malice or gross negligence. Courts in Texas have repeatedly held that choosing to drive drunk — particularly with a blood alcohol content well above the legal limit — can meet the gross negligence standard.
This matters to your case in a concrete way. A standard car accident claim is capped at economic and non-economic damages. A DWI case can go further. The cap on exemplary damages under Texas law is generally the greater of $200,000 or two times the economic damages plus non-economic damages up to $750,000. That ceiling is significantly higher than what most crash victims in a routine negligence case can reach.
The criminal case also creates a parallel track. When a drunk driver is charged with DWI under Texas Penal Code § 49.04, any conviction or guilty plea becomes powerful evidence in your civil case. A certified copy of the criminal judgment is admissible. If the driver refused a breath test and was arrested anyway, that refusal can be introduced as well. Cornell Law School provides useful background on how criminal findings intersect with civil liability in personal injury cases.
One thing people get wrong: the criminal case and the civil case are independent. The district attorney’s office handles the criminal prosecution — your civil claim is separate. Even if the driver avoids conviction through a plea bargain, you can still win your civil case. The burden of proof is “preponderance of the evidence” (more likely than not) in civil court, not the criminal standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
For a broader look at how Texas DWI Accident Attorney claims work statewide, that resource covers the full scope of what victims face across different counties.
What Evidence Makes or Breaks a DUI Accident Claim in Irving?
Most drunk driving cases come down to two things: proving intoxication and proving causation. Both sound straightforward, but in practice they require specific documentation that has a short shelf life.
The police report is your starting point, but it’s not enough on its own. Officers document observations — slurred speech, bloodshot eyes, the smell of alcohol, failed field sobriety tests — but those notes can be challenged. What holds up better is the blood alcohol test result, which in Texas is typically conducted at the police station or a hospital. Under Texas Transportation Code § 724.011, a person operating a motor vehicle gives implied consent to a BAC test upon arrest. If the driver refused, that refusal goes into the record.
Crash scene evidence degrades fast. Skid marks fade. Surveillance cameras at nearby businesses overwrite footage on 24- to 72-hour loops. The vehicle positions matter too, because the point of impact often contradicts any story the drunk driver later tells. An experienced drunk driving injury attorney will send a spoliation letter to the business or property owner quickly, putting them on legal notice to preserve any recorded footage.
Witness statements collected close in time to the crash are far more reliable than ones gathered weeks later. If witnesses saw the other driver swerving before impact, or observed them slumped at the wheel at a red light, those accounts can establish intoxication even before the arrest report is factored in.
Medical records play a dual role. They document your injuries for damages purposes, but they also help establish the timeline between the crash and your treatment — which defense attorneys will scrutinize. The CDC publishes data showing that alcohol is involved in roughly 30% of all traffic fatalities nationally. In Texas, the numbers have remained stubbornly high, making thorough documentation even more critical in contested cases.
Injuries from drunk driving crashes often include traumatic brain injuries, which can have delayed symptom onset. If you walked away from the crash scene thinking you were fine, but developed headaches, memory problems, or cognitive changes days later, you need that gap documented by a physician who can connect it to the collision. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, TBI symptoms from blunt trauma can appear hours or even days after the initial injury.
How Do Insurance Companies Handle DWI Crash Claims in Texas, and What Traps Should You Avoid?
Insurance adjusters are not on your side. That statement is blunt, but it is accurate. They are trained to minimize payouts, and drunk driving cases — despite being clear-cut in terms of fault — are not exempt from that pressure.
Here’s the first trap: the recorded statement request. Within days of a crash, an adjuster from the at-fault driver’s insurance carrier will often call and ask you to give a recorded statement. They’ll frame it as routine. You have no legal obligation to provide one. Anything you say can be used to undercut your claim later, particularly if your injuries were not yet fully apparent when you spoke.
The second trap is accepting a fast settlement. Insurance companies know the value of urgency when a victim is out of work and has medical bills stacking up. A quick offer — even one that seems generous at first — almost always represents a fraction of what the full claim is worth once future medical costs, lost earning capacity, and non-economic damages are accounted for.
Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 33.001. This means that if the defense can argue you were even partly responsible for the crash — speeding, distracted driving, or some other factor — your recovery is reduced proportionally. If you are found more than 50% at fault, you recover nothing. This is why adjusters probe for any contributing behavior on your part. Do not describe the crash in detail to a carrier until you’ve spoken with an attorney.
The third trap involves underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy. Many drunk drivers in Texas carry minimum liability limits — $30,000 per person as of 2026 under state minimums. When your medical bills exceed those limits, your own UM/UIM coverage can make up the difference. But your own insurer has financial incentives to minimize that payout too. The process of stacking claims against multiple insurance policies requires careful handling. FindLaw has a useful primer on how uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage works in practice.
What Should You Ask a DUI or DWI Accident Lawyer Before Hiring Them in Irving?
Choosing the right attorney matters more than most people realize. The DFW legal market has no shortage of personal injury lawyers, but not all of them have real experience with drunk driving injury cases specifically. Here are the questions worth asking before you sign a contingency fee agreement.
Ask how many DWI accident cases they’ve handled in the past two years — not personal injury cases generally, but drunk driving cases. Ask whether they’ve gone to trial on a DWI injury case or whether they settle everything before trial. A lawyer who has never taken a drunk driving case in front of a jury has less leverage in settlement negotiations than one who has.
Ask about their approach to exemplary damages. If they don’t bring it up unprompted, that’s a signal. Ask how they evaluate the gross negligence argument specific to your facts. A high BAC, prior DWI convictions, or evidence the driver was aware of their intoxication all strengthen the case for punitives.
Ask who will actually work your file. Some firms bring in a named partner for the pitch and then pass the case to a junior associate. You should know the specific attorney handling your depositions, communicating with opposing counsel, and preparing your case for trial if necessary.
Ask about their fee structure. Most Texas personal injury attorneys work on contingency — typically 33% of the recovery before a lawsuit is filed, and a higher percentage if the case goes to litigation. Those numbers are standard, but confirm them and get everything in writing. The American Bar Association provides guidance on what a proper contingency fee agreement should include and what clients have a right to know upfront.
Finally, look at their actual results. See our reviews and verdicts to get a realistic sense of what outcomes look like in cases similar to yours.
What Damages Can You Actually Recover After a Drunk Driving Crash in Irving, and How Long Do You Have?
Texas law gives DWI accident victims two years from the date of the crash to file a civil lawsuit, under the statute of limitations at Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 16.003. Two years sounds like plenty of time. It isn’t, for practical reasons: evidence disappears, witnesses move, and building a strong case takes months. Waiting until year two to hire an attorney is a mistake.
The recoverable damages in a drunk driving case fall into three categories. Economic damages include medical bills (past and projected future), lost wages, loss of earning capacity if your injuries affect your ability to work long-term, and costs for rehabilitation, in-home care, or medical equipment. These are calculated with documentation — bills, wage records, and expert testimony from an economist or vocational specialist if the injuries are serious.
Non-economic damages cover physical pain, mental anguish, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life. Texas places no cap on non-economic damages in DWI cases (the caps in Chapter 74 apply to medical malpractice, not drunk driving). That’s important. Juries in Dallas County and Tarrant County — both within commuting distance of Irving — have returned significant verdicts in drunk driving cases where the injuries were life-altering.
Exemplary damages, as discussed above, require the additional showing of gross negligence or malice. Your attorney needs to plead this separately and be prepared to support it with specific evidence about the driver’s conduct. A driver who was texting while drunk, who drove the wrong way on a highway, or who had prior DWI convictions presents a much stronger punitive case than one involved in a first offense at relatively lower intoxication levels.
If the crash killed a family member, Texas law allows surviving relatives to bring a wrongful death claim under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 71.002. Texas Wrongful Death Attorneys handle these claims, which cover pecuniary loss, loss of companionship, and the mental anguish experienced by surviving spouses, children, and parents.
The NIH has published research on the long-term health consequences of serious crash injuries, which can be relevant to establishing the full scope of future medical needs in a damages calculation. Courts expect this kind of documented medical evidence, not speculation.
Ready to Talk to a DUI-DWI Accident Lawyer in Irving?
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably dealing with something real — a crash that changed your routine, your health, or your family’s security. The details matter. The timeline matters. And the attorney you choose to represent you matters more than most people realize until they’re already in the middle of the process.
Geoffrey Dashner has handled serious injury and drunk driving cases throughout Texas. Learn more about our team and background to understand who you’d be working with. Dashner Law Firm | Irving Injury & Accident Attorney represents injured victims from our office at 4500 Fuller Dr, Irving, TX 75038, and we serve clients across North Texas and throughout the state.
Call our Irving office directly at (972) 635-4460 for a free consultation. There’s no fee unless we recover for you. You can also contact us online to describe your situation and get a response from our team. The earlier you reach out, the more options you have.
