Fort Pierce Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer

Drunk driving crashes are different from other collisions — legally, emotionally, and financially. The driver who hit you did not make a momentary mistake; they made a choice before they ever turned the key. Florida law recognizes that difference, and so do juries. A Fort Pierce drunk driving accident lawyer at Sholtes Law, PLLC builds your civil claim around it: preserving the impairment evidence, pursuing every liable party, and demanding compensation that reflects both what you lost and what the driver chose. Our main office is at 309 Orange Avenue in downtown Fort Pierce, blocks from the St. Lucie County Courthouse. Call 855-534-2509 for a complimentary case analysis — no fee unless we recover for you.

Fort Pierce sees more than its share of these crashes. US-1 and Okeechobee Road (SR-70) carry heavy traffic past bars and restaurants from the downtown waterfront to the Turnpike interchange, and I-95 funnels late-night traffic through the city’s western edge. When an impaired driver causes a wreck on any of them, the most seriously injured victims are typically taken to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital — the Treasure Coast’s Level II trauma center, right here in Fort Pierce — and the legal clock starts running before the hospital bracelet comes off.

What Should I Do After a Drunk Driving Crash in Fort Pierce?

1. Call 911 and let law enforcement work. The Fort Pierce Police Department or St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office crash report — and any DUI arrest that follows — will anchor your civil case.
2. Get medical care now, and within 14 days at the latest. Florida’s PIP rules forfeit benefits if initial treatment comes later than 14 days after the crash, and delayed treatment gives insurers an argument that the crash didn’t hurt you.
3. Document the scene if you are able — vehicles, debris, skid marks (or their absence), open containers, and the other driver’s demeanor.
4. Collect witnesses — including anyone who saw the driver drinking beforehand. Dram shop evidence starts here.
5. Say no to recorded statements from the at-fault driver’s insurer, and do not accept any early offer before a lawyer values your claim.
6. Call us early. Bar receipts, surveillance video, and toxicology records are perishable. The sooner we send preservation letters, the stronger your case.

Your Civil Claim Runs Separately From the Criminal DUI Case

The State of Florida prosecutes the drunk driver; that case punishes, but it does not compensate. Your civil claim is what pays your medical bills, replaces your lost income, and compensates your pain and suffering — and it proceeds on its own track, under a lower burden of proof. We pull the criminal file as it develops: the crash report, field sobriety and breath or blood results, body-camera footage, and any conviction or plea. Even if the criminal case stumbles on a procedural issue, your civil claim survives, because evidence of impairment is still evidence of negligence. And under HB 837, most negligence claims must now be filed within two years of the crash — a deadline that arrives faster than criminal cases often finish, which is exactly why the two cases cannot wait on each other.

Every Source of Compensation a Fort Pierce Drunk Driving Victim Can Pursue

The drunk driver’s bodily injury coverage is the starting point — but drunk drivers are disproportionately likely to carry minimal insurance or none at all, so a complete claim looks further:

• Your own uninsured motorist coverage. Under Fla. Stat. § 627.727, UM/UIM benefits stand in for an uninsured or underinsured drunk driver — and a hit-and-run driver, common in DUI crashes, is treated as uninsured. We review every policy in your household for stacked coverage before accepting that none exists.
• The bar or store that served them. Florida’s dram shop law, Fla. Stat. § 768.125, allows claims against a business that served alcohol to a minor or to a person it knew to be habitually addicted to alcohol. When the facts support it, we move fast on receipts, point-of-sale records, and video.
• An employer or vehicle owner. A driver working at the time puts their employer’s commercial policy in play; Florida’s dangerous instrumentality doctrine reaches the owner who lent the car.
• Punitive damages. Voluntary intoxication supports punitive damages in Florida, and under Fla. Stat. § 768.736 the usual statutory caps do not shield a drunk driver. Insurers price that exposure — a jury’s anger — into settlements when the file shows we are ready to try the case.

Compensable losses include all past and future medical care, lost wages and earning capacity, pain and suffering, emotional distress, permanent injury and scarring, a spouse’s loss of consortium — and, when a family loses someone, wrongful death damages under Fla. Stat. §§ 768.16–768.26.

How We Build a Drunk Driving Case

Impairment evidence wins these cases, and it disappears quickly. Within days of being retained we send preservation letters to the driver, any involved business, and the insurers; obtain the crash report and begin the criminal-file pipeline; canvass for surveillance and doorbell footage along the corridor where the crash happened; and interview witnesses while memories are fresh. Then we document damages the same way — treating physicians, wage records, and where warranted, economists and life-care planners. The demand package that results reads like a trial exhibit, because that is how Attorney Sholtes was trained to build cases at the Willie Gary Law Group, working under one of the nation’s most celebrated trial lawyers. If the insurer will not pay fair value, we file suit at the St. Lucie County Courthouse — in our own downtown — and prepare for a St. Lucie County jury.

A Local Fort Pierce Firm, Not a Billboard Operation

Sholtes Law, PLLC is headquartered in Fort Pierce because this is home. Attorney Sholtes is a Treasure Coast native who graduated magna cum laude from Florida International University College of Law, and the firm serves crash victims throughout St. Lucie, Martin, and Okeechobee counties from offices in Fort Pierce, Stuart, and Okeechobee. You work directly with your attorney, your consultation is free, and we charge no fee unless we recover for you. Drunk driving claims are part of our broader Fort Pierce personal injury practice, which also covers the car accident and uninsured motorist claims these cases often become.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a Fort Pierce drunk driving accident lawyer cost?

Nothing up front. We handle these cases on a contingency fee — the fee comes out of the recovery, and if we recover nothing, you owe no attorney’s fee. Consultations are free, with evening and weekend availability.

The driver’s insurance company already offered me a settlement. Should I take it?

Not before a lawyer values your claim. Early offers in drunk driving cases are calculated to close the file before punitive exposure and the criminal case develop. Once you sign a release, the claim is over — no matter what your injuries turn out to be.

What if the drunk driver was uninsured or drove off?

Your own uninsured motorist coverage likely applies — Florida treats hit-and-run drivers as uninsured — and household policies can stack. These claims put you against your own insurer, which will defend them like an adversary; treat them as the contested cases they are.

Can the bar that overserved the driver be sued?

In two situations: the bar served someone under 21, or served someone it knew to be habitually addicted to alcohol. Florida’s dram shop statute is narrow, but when it applies, it adds a defendant with real coverage — and the evidence must be locked down within days.

Do drunk driving cases settle for more than ordinary crash cases?

Properly handled, they often do. Punitive damages exposure, jury anger, and the criminal record change the insurer’s risk calculation — but only when the file proves impairment and shows the victim’s lawyer will try the case. That is precisely the file we build.

Speak With a Fort Pierce Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Today

If an impaired driver injured you or took someone from your family in Fort Pierce or anywhere in St. Lucie County, get answers before you talk to any insurance company. Call Sholtes Law, PLLC at 855-534-2509 or contact us online for a complimentary case analysis. Our office is at 309 Orange Avenue, Fort Pierce, FL 34950 — and there is no fee unless we win.

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