Syracuse, New York: Teen Drunk Driving Car Accidents

Jed Dietrich, Esq., Recognized as a Super Lawyer and American Institute of Trial Lawyers Litigator of the Year, is Committed to Defending the Rights of Drunk Driving Victims Across Syracuse. If You or a Loved One Has Been Injured in an Onondaga County Teen Drunk Driving Accident That Was Not Your Fault, You Deserve Effective, Aggressive Representation.

Teenagers account for scarcely 3.7% of all drivers nationwide but are involved in nearly 10% of fatal accidents.

For older teenagers, especially those in high school and college, one of the biggest risks on the road is among the most avoidable. Drinking alcohol can make it difficult for anyone to drive, but teenagers tend to feel the effects even more strongly. If a teen gets behind the wheel on the way home from a house party or after hitting the bars with a fake ID, they put themselves and everyone around them in serious danger.

However, taking legal action against a teen driver is not always easy.

Even if you have been seriously injured and know your no-fault insurance would not provide enough for your recovery, young motorists rarely have enough resources to provide compensation of any meaningful amount. Survivors often have no choice but to fall back on their own savings, bearing both the physical and financial burden of another person’s negligence.

You do not have to accept undeserved hardship in place of financial security.

A recognized U.S. News & World Report Best Law, the Dietrich Law Firm P.C. has spent more than 20 years helping families stand up to drunk drivers, irresponsible businesses, and money-hungry insurance companies. We could help you, too.

Read more to learn about liability in teen drunk driving accidents in New York, or call the Dietrich Law Firm P.C. today at 1-866-529-5334 to speak to a car crash lawyer near Syracuse and schedule your free, no-obligation consultation.

Many car crash-related claims are relatively straightforward, but those involving younger college students and teenagers can become unexpectedly complex.

Depending on the circumstances of your accident, someone other than the drunk driver could share liability; you may stand a better chance of securing a larger settlement. It is not unusual for teen drunk driving accident lawsuits to name more than one defendant.

Here is what you need to know about how personal injury lawyers help their clients determine liability and identify defendants after a serious drunk driving accident:

Everyone on the road, no matter their age or level of driving experience, has a legal duty to ensure that their actions do not pose an unreasonable risk, both to themselves and to others.

If a teenage driver causes an accident, you will typically need to establish that they were in some way negligent. However, while driving under the influence of alcohol is in itself a form of negligence, you will still have to prove that the at-fault teenager’s negligence was the direct cause of your accident.

Personal injury lawyers usually establish a driver’s liability by collecting and analyzing a combination of physical, forensic, and circumstantial evidence, making it much easier to draw a connection between an act of negligence and any ensuing injuries.

Drunk drivers are much more likely to cause and be involved in multi-vehicle collisions than other motorists, but that does not mean that somebody else’s mistake did not play a part.

Another driver could share liability for a drunk driving accident if their negligence contributed to the crash. Common examples of negligence include:

1. Driving over the speed limit;
2. Driving while distracted; and
3. Driving while unreasonably fatigued.

In New York, a legal principle called “joint and several liability” holds that another driver may be held jointly liable for your damages, in proportion to their level of fault.

If an at-fault teen causes a serious car accident, there is a good chance that, even if you were to file and win a lawsuit, you would receive very little in compensation. Teenagers do not usually have any significant assets; often, they own nothing at all.

However, this does not mean that liability always extends to an underage driver’s parents.

As a general rule, the parents of a drunk teen driver may be liable for accident-related damages if they allowed their child to access a motor vehicle despite having good reason to believe that their child could pose a danger to themselves or others. This could happen if a child has received prior citations for driving under the influence or reckless driving, especially if their parents never made a good-faith effort to keep the keys out of their kid’s hands.

In some cases, parents could also be liable for an accident if their child holds a junior or graduated license and still lives at home.

Drunk driving is risky no matter how old you are, but it can present extraordinary risks for teenagers, especially teenagers sharing a vehicle with friends, some of whom may also be intoxicated. Passengers who distract the driver, or otherwise act in a way that increases the risk of the driver causing a collision, could share liability for your injuries.

You have to be at least 21 years old to purchase, possess, and consume alcohol in New York.

Since teenagers cannot legally drink, they often have no choice but to obtain alcohol from others. This sometimes takes the form of theft, with older teenagers taking their parents’ own alcohol supply. In other cases, though, adults look the other way, whether by accepting a fraudulent identity card as proof of age or by actively providing minors with alcohol at a house party or other event.

In New York, two distinct statutes define this type of vicarious liability:

1. The New York dram shop law states that “any person who shall, by unlawful selling to or unlawfully assisting in procuring liquor,” for a child could be liable for a range of actual and exemplary damages if the child subsequently causes an accident. Most dram shop claims are filed against bars, restaurants, and other private businesses.
2. The New York social host liability law states that any person who knowingly provides an intoxicating amount of alcohol to a teenager could be liable for actual damages if they had “knowledge or reasonable cause to believe that such person was under the age of twenty-one years.”

New York’s dram shop and social host liability laws make it possible for accident victims to recover additional damages from a drunk driver’s enablers, but different claims are subject to very different standards, with each case requiring its own careful approach.

Since our founding in 2005, we have helped our clients secure more than $250 million in damages. We could help you, too. Please send us a message online or call us at 1-866-529-5334 to speak to a car crash lawyer near Syracuse and schedule your 100% free, no-obligation consultation as soon as possible.

Call the Dietrich Law Firm P.C. immediately at 1-866-529-5334 so that our aggressive, tenacious, and hardworking personal injury lawyers can fight to obtain the best result for your personal injury claim in Syracuse, New York. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and there is never a fee until we WIN for you!