Shaw Cowart is a trusted personal injury law firm serving Austin and Central Texas. Their legal team has extensive experience handling car accident cases, fighting to secure compensation that reflects the full extent of their clients’ medical bills, property damage, and pain and suffering.
Specialization: Personal injury lawyers, car accidents, truck accidents, wrongful death, 18-wheeler accidents.
Why choose them? Shaw Cowart offers a complimentary initial consultation, and their attorneys are recognized for aggressively advocating for their clients’ rights throughout the Austin area.

Drunk Driving Car Accidents in Austin – Lawyers at Shaw Cowart Seek Justice

Austin’s legendary entertainment districts on Sixth Street, Rainey Street, and throughout the city generate a steady stream of drunk driving car accidents that devastate innocent victims and their families. Despite ride-sharing services and public transit options, impaired drivers continue to make the reckless choice to get behind the wheel. When a drunk driver injures you or someone you love, the law empowers you to hold them financially accountable and, in many cases, to seek punitive damages that punish their reckless behavior. Austin car accident lawyers at Shaw Cowart pursue these cases with the aggressive advocacy they demand.

Drunk driving crashes spike on weekend nights, during SXSW, ACL Festival, Formula One weekends, and around holidays, but they happen at all hours and in every part of Austin and surrounding communities like Round Rock, Cedar Park, and Pflugerville. Experienced car accident attorneys in Austin at Shaw Cowart handle drunk driving cases with particular intensity because these crashes are entirely preventable. Their car wreck lawyers pursue every dollar of compensation including punitive damages to make sure impaired drivers face the full consequences of their actions.

If you have been injured by a drunk driver in Austin, the criminal case alone will not compensate you. Car accident lawyers at Shaw Cowart can explain your civil options during a free consultation.

How Alcohol Destroys Driving Ability

Alcohol impairs virtually every skill needed for safe driving. At a blood alcohol concentration of just 0.02 percent — well below the legal limit — visual function begins to decline. By 0.05 percent, steering control and emergency response deteriorate. At the legal limit of 0.08 percent, concentration, speed control, and information processing are all substantially compromised. Many drunk driving crashes in Austin involve drivers with BAC levels far above the legal threshold, where impairment is severe and reaction times are dangerously slow.

Crashes caused by impaired drivers are often more violent because the drunk driver typically fails to brake or take evasive action before impact. The full force of the collision strikes the victim’s vehicle without any mitigation, producing injuries that are frequently catastrophic or fatal.

Punitive Damages in Drunk Driving Cases

Texas law allows victims of drunk driving accidents to seek punitive damages — also called exemplary damages — on top of compensatory damages. Compensatory damages cover your actual losses including medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Punitive damages serve a different purpose — they punish the drunk driver for gross negligence and deter others from making the same deadly choice. Courts recognize that choosing to drive while intoxicated demonstrates the kind of conscious indifference that justifies punitive awards, and these awards can be substantial.

Dram Shop Liability – Holding Bars and Restaurants Accountable

Under the Texas Dram Shop Act, bars and restaurants that serve alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person can share legal liability if that person causes a car accident. If the establishment knew or should have known the patron was obviously intoxicated and continued serving them, the business bears financial responsibility for injuries caused by the subsequent crash. Given Austin’s dense concentration of bars and restaurants, dram shop claims are a realistic avenue of additional recovery in many local cases.

Surveillance footage, server testimony, receipts showing drink volume, and witness observations all help prove that the establishment over-served the patron. These claims add another insurance policy to the case, which is especially valuable when the drunk driver has limited assets or coverage.

Criminal Case Versus Civil Claim

When a drunk driver is arrested for DWI in Austin, the criminal case and your civil claim proceed on separate tracks. The criminal case, prosecuted by the Travis County District Attorney, focuses on punishment through fines, jail, and license suspension. Your civil claim focuses on recovering money for your injuries and losses. You do not need to wait for the criminal case to conclude, and a civil claim can succeed even if criminal charges are reduced because the burden of proof is lower in civil court.

Evidence in Austin Drunk Driving Crash Cases

Blood alcohol test results, field sobriety test performance, police body camera footage, toxicology reports, and the officer’s observations at the scene all provide powerful evidence for your civil case. Bar receipts, credit card records, and surveillance footage from the establishment where the driver was drinking can establish the timeline and volume of alcohol consumed. Witness observations about the driver’s behavior before the crash help paint a complete picture of impairment.

Shaw Cowart Aggressively Pursues Justice for Drunk Driving Victims in Austin

Shaw Cowart’s Austin car accident lawyers believe drunk drivers should face the full financial consequences of their reckless choices. Their team pursues every source of compensation including punitive damages and dram shop claims to maximize recovery. Contact Shaw Cowart today for a free consultation if you have been hurt by a drunk driver in Austin.