Port St. Lucie Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer

A drunk driver takes a choice away from everyone else on the road. You did nothing wrong — you were driving home on Port St. Lucie Boulevard, waiting at a light on Gatlin, crossing an intersection on US-1 — and someone who decided to drive impaired changed your life in a second. A Port St. Lucie drunk driving accident attorney at Sholtes Law, PLLC helps victims and families turn that anger into a case: proving the impairment, finding every liable party, and demanding the full compensation Florida law allows — including the punitive damages that only drunk driving cases unlock. Call 855-534-2509 for a complimentary case analysis. You pay nothing unless we recover for you.

These crashes are not rare here. Impaired-driving collisions in Florida kill hundreds and injure thousands every year according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV), and Port St. Lucie’s mix of fast-growing arterial roads — Port St. Lucie Boulevard, Gatlin Boulevard, St. Lucie West Boulevard, Crosstown Parkway, US-1 — with bars, restaurants, and late-night traffic produces a steady stream of them, especially on weekend nights. When one of those crashes involves you or someone you love, two cases begin at once: the State of Florida’s criminal DUI prosecution, and your civil injury claim. This page is about the second one — the case that actually compensates you.

The Criminal DUI Case Is Not Your Case — Here Is What Is

Many victims assume the criminal case will take care of them. It will not. The criminal prosecution can put the driver in jail, suspend a license, and order restitution in limited amounts — but it does not pay your medical bills, your lost wages, or anything for what you have been through. That is the job of the civil claim your Port St. Lucie drunk driving accident lawyer brings against the driver and every other responsible party.

The two cases run on separate tracks, and yours does not wait for theirs. A criminal conviction — or even a plea — can powerfully strengthen your civil case, and we obtain the crash report, breath or blood test results, body-camera footage, and criminal court records to build it. But even if the State’s case falls apart on a technicality, your civil claim survives: the burden of proof in civil court is lower, and evidence of impairment short of a conviction is still evidence of negligence.

Who Can Be Held Liable Beyond the Drunk Driver?

The driver is the obvious defendant — but often not the only one, and in serious-injury cases the additional defendants frequently matter more, because their insurance policies are larger.

• Bars and liquor stores — Florida’s dram shop law. Under Fla. Stat. § 768.125, a business that serves alcohol can be held liable when it serves a person under 21 or a person it knows to be habitually addicted to alcohol who then injures someone. These cases demand fast evidence work — receipts, point-of-sale records, surveillance footage, and witness accounts from the establishment.
• Employers. If the drunk driver was working — driving a company vehicle or furthering an employer’s business — the employer is generally on the hook for the driver’s negligence, and commercial policies dwarf personal ones.
• Vehicle owners. Florida’s dangerous instrumentality doctrine holds a vehicle’s owner responsible when they entrust it to a driver who causes harm — including an impaired one.
• Your own insurer. Impaired drivers are disproportionately likely to be uninsured or underinsured. Your uninsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage under Fla. Stat. § 627.727 can stand in for a drunk driver who has no meaningful coverage — and hit-and-run drivers, common in DUI crashes, are treated as uninsured.

Identifying every source of recovery is one of the most valuable things an experienced drunk driving accident attorney in Port St. Lucie does — and it needs to happen early, before evidence at a bar or on a phone disappears.

Punitive Damages: Why Drunk Driving Cases Are Different

Most negligence cases compensate; drunk driving cases can also punish. Florida law treats voluntary intoxication as grounds for daños punitivos, and under Fla. Stat. § 768.736, the usual statutory caps on punitive awards do not protect a defendant who was impaired. That distinction changes settlement negotiations completely: an insurer defending an ordinary rear-end crash is pricing medical bills, while an insurer defending a drunk driver with a 0.15 BAC is pricing what a St. Lucie County jury will do with that number. We build the impairment evidence — toxicology, bar receipts, the criminal file, witness testimony — precisely because of that leverage.

Compensation for Port St. Lucie Drunk Driving Accident Victims

A full recovery accounts for every category of loss, not just the bills in hand today:

• Emergency care, hospitalization, surgery, and all future medical treatment — victims of serious crashes in the city are commonly treated at Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital or transferred to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital in Fort Pierce, the region’s Level II trauma center;
• Lost wages and diminished earning capacity;
• Pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life;
• Permanent injury, scarring, or disfigurement;
• A spouse’s loss of consortium;
• Punitive damages, as described above; and
• Wrongful death damages under Fla. Stat. §§ 768.16–768.26 when a family loses someone to an impaired driver.

Florida’s no-fault rules apply here too: your own PIP coverage pays first — up to $10,000, and only if you seek treatment within 14 days of the crash — but serious injuries step outside the no-fault system and open the door to full damages against the drunk driver. And under HB 837, most negligence claims must now be filed within two years. The clock is shorter than most victims think.

What to Do After a Drunk Driving Crash in Port St. Lucie

1. Call 911. The Port St. Lucie Police Department’s crash report — and any DUI investigation it triggers — becomes the backbone of your civil case.
2. Get medical care immediately, and within 14 days at the latest to preserve PIP benefits. Adrenaline hides real injuries.
3. Document what you can: photos of the vehicles and scene, the other driver’s behavior, open containers, and the names of witnesses — including anyone who saw the driver before the crash.
4. Do not negotiate with the drunk driver or accept an apology payment. Impaired drivers and their insurers often push for fast, quiet settlements before the criminal case develops.
5. Do not give the at-fault insurer a recorded statement. You are not required to, and it exists to shrink your claim.
6. Call a lawyer early. Dram shop evidence, phone data, and surveillance footage disappear in days. A free consultation costs nothing and protects everything.

Why Victims Choose Sholtes Law, PLLC

Attorney Andrew Sholtes is a Treasure Coast native who graduated magna cum laude from Florida International University College of Law and trained under one of the nation’s most celebrated trial lawyers at the Willie Gary Law Group. That matters in drunk driving cases, because insurers price a claim by the lawyer holding it: a firm that prepares every case for a St. Lucie County jury — in the same 19th Judicial Circuit courthouse where your lawsuit would be filed — negotiates from strength. We are local, with our main office at 309 Orange Avenue in Fort Pierce, minutes from the St. Lucie County Courthouse, and we handle every case on a contingency fee: no fee unless we recover for you. If your crash happened elsewhere in the county, our St. Lucie drunk driving accident lawyer page covers claims countywide.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a Port St. Lucie drunk driving accident lawyer cost?

Nothing up front. Sholtes Law, PLLC handles drunk driving injury cases on a contingency fee — our fee comes out of the recovery, and if we recover nothing, you owe no attorney’s fee. The consultation is always free.

The drunk driver was arrested. Do I still need my own attorney?

Yes. The prosecutor represents the State, not you. Only your own civil claim recovers your medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and punitive damages — and only your own Port St. Lucie drunk driving accident attorney is working for your recovery.

What if the drunk driver was uninsured or fled the scene?

Both are common in impaired-driving crashes, and both point to your own uninsured motorist coverage. Florida treats hit-and-run “phantom” drivers as uninsured, so your UM benefits can pay even if the driver is never found. We review every household policy for stacked and non-stacked coverage before accepting that none exists.

Can I sue the bar that served the driver?

Sometimes. Florida’s dram shop statute is narrower than most states’ — liability attaches when a business serves a minor or someone it knows to be habitually addicted to alcohol. When the facts fit, these are powerful claims, but the evidence (receipts, video, serving-staff testimony) must be preserved quickly.

How long do I have to file a claim?

Generally two years from the crash under Florida’s current statute of limitations — and far less time than that to preserve the evidence that wins these cases. Contact a lawyer as soon as you are able.

What is my drunk driving accident case worth?

It depends on your injuries, the available coverage, and the impairment evidence. What we can tell you is that drunk driving cases, handled properly, are often worth substantially more than an identical crash without impairment — because of punitive exposure and jury anger — and that early offers rarely reflect it. Have a lawyer value the case before you sign anything.

Speak with a Port St. Lucie Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Today

If you or someone you love was hurt by an impaired driver in Port St. Lucie or anywhere in St. Lucie County, do not carry this alone — and do not let the insurance company set the terms. Call Sholtes Law, PLLC at 855-534-2509 or reach us online for a complimentary case analysis with an experienced drunk driving accident attorney. No fee unless we win.

Comparte esta página: