Hit by a Drunk Driver in Birmingham?

If you've been hit by a drunk driver, call 911 immediately. Tell the dispatcher you suspect the other driver is impaired — this ensures police respond with the intention of conducting field sobriety tests and potentially a breathalyzer or blood draw at the scene.

The responding officers need to document the drunk driver's condition before it changes. Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) drops over time, and every minute matters. The police report from a DUI crash is one of the most powerful pieces of evidence in your civil claim — it captures the driver's BAC, field sobriety test results, witness statements, and the officer's own observations of impairment.

Get yourself to a hospital. UAB Hospital at 619 19th Street South is the only ACS-verified Level I trauma center in the entire state of Alabama, treating over 6,500 trauma patients annually with a survival rate exceeding 96%. Baptist Health Brookwood Hospital is a 595-bed facility with a 24/7 emergency department. Grandview Medical Center and St. Vincent's Birmingham (Ascension) also serve the metro area. Drunk driving crashes tend to be high-speed, high-impact collisions — the injuries are often catastrophic. Don't wait to see how you feel. Go now.

When officers arrive, give them a complete account. If you saw the other driver swerving across lanes, running a red light, driving the wrong way, or drifting off the road before the collision, say so. If you smelled alcohol when you interacted with the driver, say that too. Every detail goes into the police report — and that report becomes a key piece of evidence in your civil claim.

The officers will handle the DUI investigation: field sobriety tests, a breathalyzer or blood draw, and potentially an arrest. Alabama's implied consent law (Ala. Code § 32-5-192) means every driver on Alabama roads has already consented to chemical testing when lawfully arrested for DUI. Refusing the test results in an automatic 90-day license suspension. A BAC result showing the driver was over 0.08 is powerful evidence of negligence that's very hard for any insurance company to argue against.

Alabama's legal BAC limit is 0.08% for standard drivers, 0.04% for commercial drivers, and 0.02% for drivers under 21. But 63% of DUI fatalities in Alabama involve drivers with a BAC of 0.15 or higher — nearly double the legal limit. If the driver who hit you was severely intoxicated, that strengthens both your civil claim and the argument for punitive damages.

If you're physically able, photograph everything. The other driver's vehicle, your vehicle, the intersection or stretch of road, traffic signals, skid marks, debris, and any visible injuries. If there are beer cans, bottles, or open containers in or around the other driver's vehicle, photograph those from a safe distance. Don't touch anything in the other vehicle.

Get the other driver's name, insurance information, and license plate number. Get the names and phone numbers of any witnesses. In the chaos after a crash, people leave quickly — grab their contact info before they go.

Write down your own observations while they're fresh: What time did the crash happen? What road were you on? What did you see the other driver doing before the impact? Did they try to brake? Were they swerving? Did they say anything after the crash? These details are important for both the criminal case and your civil claim.

Keep every medical receipt, every doctor's note, and every record of missed work from this point forward. Drunk driving crashes often cause severe injuries with long-term consequences — the full cost of your recovery may not be apparent for months or even years.

A DUI crash triggers two separate legal tracks: criminal and civil. The criminal case is the state prosecuting the drunk driver for DUI (Ala. Code § 32-5A-191). The civil case is your claim for compensation for the injuries and damages you suffered. These cases run independently — the criminal case does not have to conclude before you file your civil claim, and a criminal conviction is not required for you to win in civil court.

Under Alabama DUI law, a first offense carries up to 1 year in jail and fines of $600-$2,100. A second offense (within 10 years) carries 5 days to 1 year and fines of $1,100-$5,100. A fourth or subsequent offense is a Class C felony with 1-10 years in state prison. If the DUI driver who hit you had prior offenses, that history may be relevant to your civil claim — particularly for punitive damages.

A DUI conviction or a BAC test result above 0.08 is powerful evidence in your civil case. It establishes negligence per se — the driver was breaking the law at the time of the crash. But even without a conviction (charges are sometimes reduced or dismissed), the BAC evidence, officer observations, and field sobriety results can still support your civil claim.

Your civil claim is where you recover compensation for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages. The criminal case determines punishment for the driver. Both matter, but your financial recovery comes from the civil side.

Alabama is one of only four states that uses pure contributory negligence — normally, if you're found even 1% at fault, you recover nothing. But drunk driving cases are different.

When a driver is intoxicated, their conduct typically qualifies as willful or wanton — meaning they acted with a conscious disregard for the safety of others. Alabama courts have held that the contributory negligence defense generally does not apply to claims based on willful or wanton conduct. A drunk driver who chose to get behind the wheel after drinking cannot credibly argue that you — the sober driver or pedestrian they hit — contributed to the crash.

This doesn't mean the insurance company won't try. They may still argue you were speeding, ran a stop sign, or were partially at fault. But the legal threshold for using contributory negligence as a defense is much higher when the defendant was intoxicated. An experienced attorney knows how to leverage the DUI evidence to neutralize contributory negligence arguments.

The bottom line: drunk driving cases in Alabama are among the strongest personal injury claims precisely because the driver's illegal intoxication largely removes the contributory negligence barrier that makes other Alabama injury claims so difficult.

If the drunk driver who hit you was served alcohol at a bar, restaurant, or establishment before the crash, that business may share liability under Alabama's dram shop law (Ala. Code § 6-5-71). Alabama's dram shop statute is one of the oldest in the nation, dating back to 1909.

A 2023 amendment (SB104, effective April 19, 2023) changed the liability standard from strict liability to 'knowing' liability. Under the current law, a business is liable if it knowingly served alcohol to someone who was visibly intoxicated or underage — meaning the server knew or reasonably should have known the person was visibly impaired.

Who can sue under the dram shop law: the injured person, their spouse, children, parents, or any other person who suffers personal injury, property damage, or loss of support as a result. The intoxicated person themselves cannot sue the establishment that served them.

Dram shop claims add another potential source of compensation beyond the drunk driver's personal insurance. Bars and restaurants typically carry commercial liability insurance with higher coverage limits than individual auto policies. If the driver who hit you was served past the point of visible intoxication, your attorney should investigate whether a dram shop claim is viable.

Drunk driving cases are among the most common situations where punitive damages are awarded. Punitive damages go beyond compensating you for your injuries — they're designed to punish the defendant for especially egregious conduct and deter others from doing the same thing.

In Alabama, punitive damages are available when the defendant acted willfully, wantonly, or with malicious intent. Choosing to drive drunk meets this standard. If the driver had a prior DUI history, was driving with an extremely high BAC (0.15+), was driving on a suspended license, or had children in the vehicle, the argument for punitive damages is even stronger.

Alabama generally caps punitive damages at the greater of $1.5 million or three times compensatory damages (Ala. Code § 6-11-21). However, there is no cap on punitive damages in wrongful death cases. If the drunk driver killed someone you love, the potential for punitive damages is significant.

Punitive damages are never guaranteed — they require proving the defendant's conduct was more than just negligent. But in drunk driving cases, the evidence of willful and wanton behavior is often clear. An experienced attorney will build your case with punitive damages in mind from the start.

Drunk driving accident cases in Alabama are among the strongest personal injury claims you can bring. The driver's intoxication establishes negligence per se, largely neutralizes the contributory negligence defense, and opens the door to punitive damages. But these cases still require skilled legal handling — the insurance company will fight to minimize your payout, and the criminal case creates both opportunities and complications for your civil claim.

An experienced Birmingham attorney will coordinate with the district attorney's office on the criminal case, pursue dram shop liability if applicable, calculate your full damages including future medical needs and lost earning capacity, and build a case for punitive damages from day one.

Most personal injury attorneys in Birmingham handle drunk driving accident cases on contingency — no upfront cost, and they only get paid if you recover money. A free consultation costs you nothing and tells you whether your case has value. Cases are filed in the Jefferson County Circuit Court, 10th Judicial Circuit, at 716 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd North, Birmingham, AL 35203.

If someone was killed by a drunk driver, the wrongful death statute of limitations is 2 years from the date of death (Ala. Code § 6-5-410). Only the personal representative of the deceased's estate can file a wrongful death action in Alabama. In wrongful death cases, all damages are punitive by nature under Alabama law — meaning they are meant to punish the wrongdoer, not compensate the estate.