Personal Injury Law

Bankruptcy does not Insulate a Drunk Driver from Liability or Judgment for Personal Injury Damages - Illinois Drunk Driver Severely Injured my Client

By Benjamin J. Sansone, Esq.

If you are the injured victim of a drunk driving accident in Missouri, Illinois, or any other state your personal injury lawyer should know that the drunk driver cannot insulate himself from liability by declaring bankruptcy. The Federal bankruptcy law is very clear on this point. See, 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(9) exceptions to bankruptcy discharge include "(9) for death or personal injury caused by the debtor?s operation of a motor vehicle, vessel, or aircraft if such operation was unlawful because the debtor was intoxicated from using alcohol, a drug, or another substance"

As discussed in a previous entry, I am currently handling a case where a drunk driver slammed into the rear of my client's car when she was waiting at a stop light in Belleville IL. See Drunk Driving Car Accident Picture and ALLSTATE UNDERHANDED NEGOTIATION TACTICS Allstate has refused to settle the case for a reasonable amount and when my client refused to accept their low offer Allstate, through their insurance lawyers and the insured drunk driver, threatened that their insured, the drunk driver, would declare bankruptcy if my client did not take their low offer for settlement of her Illinois drunk driving personal injury claim as a result of Allstate's insured drunk driver.

After calling Allstate out on their misrepresentation about the law they now claim, through their lawyer, that only punitive damages would be prevented from discharge in bankruptcy and all the compensatory damages would be discharged; another blatant misrepresentation of the law. The motivation behind this bad faith action by Allstate is two fold:

1. They want their insured feel safe that any judgment over the policy limits will not come back on him personally. This is done to explain to their insured why they are not settling a drunk driving case within policy limits when we are willing to do so. Thus opening their insured up to an excess judgment.

2. Allstate, through their lawyers, are hoping that I am stupid and will fall for their threat of bankruptcy and convince my client to take their low offer. Fortunately, I did not sleep through law school. Additionally, as a Missouri and Illinois personal injury lawyer, I have argued this point in past cases in federal court, and it is clear that a drunk driver's liability cannot be discharged.

Allstate is willing to sell out their insured and make ridiculous legal claims in order to save a buck and try to protect a drunk driver that seriously injured my client. This is coming from the self proclaimed "Good Hands" people, that when they take off those white gloves expose their truly dirty hands with their bad faith negotiation tactics.

Full post as published by Missouri Injury Law Blog on March 04, 2008 (boomark / email).