Connecticut residents who are hurt in car accidents can face serious financial hardship. After all, a car wreck can leave a victim with unexpected medical expenses, lost wages due to an inability to work and noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering and disfigurement. These individuals are oftentimes able to recover compensation for their damages, but doing so requires filing a successful personal injury lawsuit against a negligent driver. This can be difficult for a number of reasons.
Persistence often pays off, though, as can be seen from one recent arrest made in Connecticut. Readers of the blog may remember an incident last October where a drunk driver struck a group of motorcyclists, injuring five and killing one. Now, a 57-year-old woman from Litchfield is under arrest for the wreck. She has been charged with DUI, failing to maintain her lane, manslaughter and assault with a motor vehicle, amongst other charges.
Although her guilt is yet to be determined, her arrest may give rise to multiple personal injury lawsuits, as well as a wrongful death claim. Whereas a criminal conviction requires proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, winning a personal injury or wrongful death claim only requires showing liability by a preponderance of the evidence, which is a lower legal standard.
In instances where an individual has been harmed by a drunk driver, evidence collected by the police may be critical to a victim’s personal injury claim. It may therefore be beneficial to know how to acquire and use this evidence to its fullest extent, even if one’s claim isn’t filed until well after the accident. To learn more about how to strengthen one’s personal injury lawsuit, Connecticut residents may wish to speak with an experienced attorney.
Source: WTNH, “Woman charged with DUI in fatal Litchfield crash,” Macy Corica, Feb. 24, 2017
