This page was written, edited, and reviewed & approved by Rusty Smith following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. Rusty Smith, the Founding Attorney, has 25 years of legal experience as a personal injury attorney. Our last Published date shows when this page was last updated & reviewed.
If a drunk driver hurt you, you can pursue a claim for your medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering. The criminal case against that driver runs on a separate track. It will not pay your bills or replace the income you lost.
An Oklahoma drunk driving accident lawyer at Smith Barkett Law Group can begin protecting your claim now, while bar receipts, surveillance video, and toxicology records still exist. Our attorneys handle serious injury and wrongful death claims for people across Oklahoma, working from offices in Tulsa and Muskogee. We can explain where your claim stands and what to expect next, so call 918-582-6900 for a free case evaluation.
Impaired driving claims carry evidence that ordinary collision claims do not. Blood alcohol results, arrest reports, dashcam footage, and service records from the bar or restaurant are all held by third parties who are not required to preserve them indefinitely. We move to secure that material early.
Our firm brings more than 75 years of combined litigation experience to injury claims across the state. Michael Barkett has practiced Oklahoma law for more than three decades and has tried over 80 jury trials to verdict. Rusty Smith brings 25 years of civil litigation experience to the same cases.
We handle drunk-driving injury claims on a contingency-fee basis, so representation costs you nothing up front. Our team investigates who served the driver, what the insurance policies actually cover, and how your injuries will affect you over time. You focus on treatment while we handle the insurers and the record gathering.
Alcohol-related crashes injure nearly 2,500 people and kill approximately 220 Oklahomans each year, according to the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office. Those numbers describe a pattern, not isolated accidents.
Oklahoma sets several thresholds for alcohol impairment behind the wheel:
A driver below these thresholds can still be legally responsible for your injuries. Impairment is one form of negligence, and a civil claim turns on unreasonable conduct rather than on a specific test result.
More than one party often shares responsibility for an impaired driving collision. Identifying each of them matters, because a single driver's insurance policy rarely covers a catastrophic injury.
The driver who chose to operate a vehicle while impaired is the primary responsible party. Their auto liability insurance is usually the first source of compensation. That coverage is frequently limited, which is why we look further.
Oklahoma has no dram shop statute that creates civil liability, which surprises many people. Liability instead comes from common law.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court addressed this in Brigance v. Velvet Dove Restaurant, Inc., 1986 OK 41. That decision held that a vendor selling alcohol for on-premises consumption has a duty to exercise reasonable care not to serve a noticeably intoxicated person.
Oklahoma law separately makes it unlawful to sell, deliver, or furnish alcoholic beverages to an intoxicated person under Title 37A of the Oklahoma Statutes. Proving this kind of claim requires service records, staff testimony, and evidence connecting the sale to the driver's impairment.
When the impaired driver was working at the time of the crash, the employer may share responsibility. A company that put an unfit driver on the road, or that ignored a known history, can face its own claim. Commercial policies typically carry higher limits than personal auto coverage.
Oklahoma recognizes several categories of damages, and impaired driving cases can reach all of them. What your claim may seek depends on your injuries, your treatment, and how the crash changed your daily life.
Economic damages cover the measurable financial losses tied to the crash. These commonly include the following:
Documenting future costs matters as much as documenting past bills, because a settlement closes the claim permanently.
Noneconomic damages address pain and suffering, disfigurement, and the loss of activities that mattered to you. Oklahoma once capped these damages at $350,000. In Beason v. I.E. Miller Services, Inc., 2019 OK 28, the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down the cap as an unconstitutional special law. Hence, no statutory cap currently limits noneconomic damages in injury cases.
Punitive damages are separate from compensation and address the defendant's conduct. Under Title 23 of the Oklahoma Statutes, a jury may award them when clear and convincing evidence shows reckless disregard for the rights of others.
That category is capped at the lesser of $100,000 or the actual damages awarded. Where the evidence shows intentional and malicious conduct, the limit rises to the greatest of $500,000, twice the actual damages, or the financial benefit the defendant gained.
What happens in the days after a collision often shapes the claim more than anything that follows. If you can act at the scene or shortly afterward, these steps help protect your position:
If you were unable to take these steps, your claim is not lost. We reconstruct events from police records, medical files, and third-party evidence.
The criminal prosecution and your injury claim are two separate proceedings with different purposes. The criminal case addresses penalties owed to the state. Your civil claim addresses the losses you sustained.
A conviction can serve as persuasive evidence of negligence in your claim. An acquittal or a dismissal does not end your case, because the civil standard of proof is lower than the criminal standard. You may prevail in a civil claim even where prosecutors could not meet their burden.
Waiting for the criminal case to conclude carries real risk. Evidence degrades, witnesses relocate, and your filing deadline continues to run regardless of what happens in the criminal court.
Many impaired drivers carry minimum coverage that falls short of a serious injury. Your own policy may fill part of that gap.
Oklahoma insurers must offer uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and a policyholder may reject it only in writing, under Title 36 of the Oklahoma Statutes. If you never signed a written rejection, that coverage may apply to your claim.
We review all available policies, including household policies and any commercial coverage associated with the at-fault vehicle. Stacking multiple sources is often what makes a catastrophic injury claim viable.
Two rules shape almost every injury claim in the state, and both can end a case that has genuine merit.
Oklahoma generally allows two years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit for injury to another's rights under Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes, Section 95. Wrongful death actions under Section 1053 carry the same two-year period and are brought by the personal representative of the estate. Missing the deadline typically ends the claim regardless of how clear the impairment was.
Insurers routinely argue that an injured person contributed to a collision. Oklahoma follows modified comparative negligence under Title 23, Section 13.
Contributory negligence does not bar recovery unless your negligence is of a greater degree than the negligence of the parties causing the harm. Your share of the fault reduces your compensation.
These are questions we hear most often from people injured by impaired drivers.
A conviction is strong evidence of negligence, but it does not automatically establish what you are entitled to recover. We still must prove causation and the full extent of your injuries.
Yes. A civil claim uses a lower standard of proof than a criminal prosecution, so charges are not required for your claim to move forward.
Possibly. Under Oklahoma common law, a vendor who serves someone noticeably intoxicated may be liable to a person whom the driver later injures.
Drinking alone does not bar your claim. Oklahoma reduces your compensation by your share of fault and bars recovery only when your negligence is greater than the other party's.
They can be. Punitive damages require clear and convincing evidence of reckless disregard for the rights of others, which the circumstances of impaired driving may support.
Speak with an attorney before accepting anything. Early offers often arrive before the full cost of your treatment and lost income is known.
Being hit by someone who chose to drive impaired leaves more than physical injuries. It leaves a sense that the harm was preventable, and that feeling does not fade while you wait on insurance adjusters and court dates.
Smith Barkett Law Group represents injured people and grieving families throughout Oklahoma, with offices in Tulsa and Muskogee. Our attorneys, Rusty Smith and Michael Barkett, have spent their careers trying serious injury cases, and we evaluate every drunk driving claim with the same care.
We will review what happened, identify every party who may share responsibility, and explain the options actually available to you. There is no cost to have that conversation, and we handle these claims on a contingency fee basis.
Call an Oklahoma drunk-driving accident lawyer at Smith Barkett Law Group at 918-582-6900 or reach us through our contact page to schedule a free case evaluation.
"*" indicates required fields
