The Texas DPS has issued a crash report identifying the injured driver in a New Year’s Day crash in Collin County. The wreck happened just after midnight on CR 550 near SH 78. The report indicates the driver, 26-year-old Antonia Renee Trevino, was traveling southwest on County Road 550 when the car she was driving left the roadway and struck a sign before coming to a rest in the tree line. The driver suffered incapacitating injuries and was transported to Medical Center McKinney for treatment of injuries sustained in the crash. The report indicates that the victim admitted to officers she had been drinking prior to the crash.
COMMENTARY:
Many people don’t realize that an injured driver who was out drinking at a bar, restaurant, or other establishment prior to an automobile accident might be able to sue the establishment for injuries that are the result of them being overserved. Many people wrongly believe that drunk drivers are the only ones who may be held responsible in a drunk driving accident. Texas passed a law referred to as the Dram Shop Act, which allows victims and their families to sue an alcohol provider for their role in the crash if overserving them was a proximate cause of the accident. Proximate cause just means that the accident would not have happened if it was not for the intoxication. If the establishment is responsible, that means that not only can a party who is injured by a drunk driver sue the alcohol provider, but the intoxicated driver can too. These types of cases can be difficult to litigate, so having an experienced lawyer is necessary.