Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Long Beach

If a drunk driver hurt you or killed someone you love, you face two tracks at once. The criminal case belongs to the prosecutors, and it moves on its own schedule. Your injury claim belongs to you, and it has its own deadlines and its own rules. In Long Beach the numbers are stark. The California Office of Traffic Safety ranked the city second among 15 comparable cities for alcohol-involved crash victims in 2023, and first for crashes at night. Moe Abdallah Law, P.C. is a Los Angeles firm that handles motor vehicle crash cases only, including drunk driving crashes. Moe takes calls himself, at any hour, and updates clients by call and text. Your review is free, and you pay nothing unless he wins. Call any time, nights and weekends included.

Night crashes, alcohol, and what the Long Beach numbers show

The state's traffic safety office publishes yearly rankings that compare Long Beach with 14 cities of similar size. For 2023, Long Beach ranked first for nighttime crashes between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. that killed or injured someone, with 485, and second for alcohol-involved crash victims, with 373. Long Beach Post separately reported that the city recorded 53 fatal traffic collisions in 2025, its most in more than a decade. Those figures cover the whole city and all causes, so they do not say any one street is unsafe. They do show why impaired driving cases come up here. The 2022 rankings add more: Long Beach was 2nd of 15 for pedestrian victims and 2nd for bicyclist victims, and alcohol crashes can hit people on foot or on a bike as easily as other drivers. A crash on Pacific Coast Highway, Artesia Boulevard, Orange Avenue, or the I-710 or I-405 each leaves a different record trail. If you were hit at night, the time and place of the crash will anchor your case. We build the timeline early, starting with where the driver was before the crash and when they left.

What happens at the scene, and the police reports that matter

When police suspect a drunk driver, officers may ask for field sobriety tests and a breath or blood test. In California it is illegal to operate a vehicle at a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent or more, and the limit is 0.04 percent for commercial vehicles and for drivers carrying passengers for hire (Vehicle Code section 23152). Driving under the influence and causing injury to someone is a separate crime (section 23153). The Long Beach Police Department is the city's own police force, separate from LAPD and the Sheriff. For an LBPD collision report, mail the application with a copy of photo ID to the Information Management Division, 400 W. Broadway, Long Beach, CA 90802, with the $30 fee. Crime victims are exempt from the fee. We also ask for the DUI arrest report, breath or blood results, body camera footage, and 911 audio. Those records show how impaired the driver was and what officers saw, and they can disappear if no one asks in time. Moe sends the requests right away and tracks each one until the records arrive.

Your civil case does not wait on the criminal case

Many people think they must wait for a conviction. You do not have to. The driver does not have to be convicted for you to prove they were negligent. A conviction helps, though. A felony conviction can be used as evidence in your civil case to prove the facts it rests on (Evidence Code section 1300). A misdemeanor DUI conviction does not get that treatment, and a no contest plea to a misdemeanor cannot be used against the driver as an admission in a civil suit (Penal Code section 1016). Either way, we prove the case with the same tools: blood alcohol results, witness statements, receipts from the bar or restaurant, phone records, and the physical evidence from the crash. The usual deadline to sue is two years (Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1). If the driver is convicted of a felony for the crash, Code of Civil Procedure section 340.3 can give you more time, running one year from the criminal judgment when that is later. We do not rely on that extension. We file on time. Waiting for the criminal case to end is a common, costly mistake, because witnesses move and records get purged.

Punitive damages against a drunk driver

Most injury claims pay for what you lost: medical bills, lost income, and pain. Drunk driving cases can add more. California allows punitive damages when you prove malice, oppression, or fraud by clear and convincing evidence, and malice includes despicable conduct carried on with a willful and conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others (Civil Code section 3294). In Taylor v. Superior Court, the California Supreme Court held that a driver's conscious disregard of safety by driving drunk can support a punitive damages claim. Punitive damages are not automatic. Each case turns on its facts. Facts such as a very high blood alcohol level, a prior DUI, or a driver who left the scene may bear on the request. If the driver was working at the time, the employer may face punitive damages only if it knew of the employee's unfitness in advance and kept them on with conscious disregard for others, or approved the conduct. We look at all of this early, before the trail on assets and insurance goes cold. Moe tells you the odds straight, since a judgment is only as good as the money behind it.

Insurance, bars, and who else may owe you

Start with insurance. California's minimum auto liability limits are $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident for injuries on policies issued or renewed since January 1, 2025, and a serious crash can blow past that. We check your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, any employer policy, and any rideshare policy. California's dram shop rule is narrow. Bars, stores, and social hosts generally are not liable for injuries caused by an adult they served (Civil Code section 1714 and Business and Professions Code section 25602). The exceptions are narrow. A seller can be liable for serving an obviously intoxicated minor (section 25602.1), and an adult who knowingly furnishes alcohol at home to someone under 21 can be liable. So if the drunk driver was an adult who left a Long Beach bar, do not expect the bar to pay. We investigate anyway, because the facts sometimes fit an exception, such as an underage driver. You can also recover if you were partly at fault, with your award reduced by your share. Insurers raise that point often, so we prepare for it from day one.

Medical care, the courthouse, and how Moe handles your case

Drunk driving crashes can cause serious injuries, such as fractures, brain injuries, spinal damage, and internal bleeding. MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center and St. Mary Medical Center are both Level II trauma centers in the city. Keep every record from the first ambulance ride onward, because those records tie your injuries to the crash. If you lost a family member, a wrongful death claim has its own rules about who may sue, and Moe will walk you through them. The Superior Court's building in the city is the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse, 275 Magnolia Ave., which hears both civil and criminal matters, and Moe confirms where your civil case should be filed. Moe handles your case personally, moves fast on evidence, and updates you by call and text. You can reach us at night too, since many of these crashes happen then. The first review is free, there is no fee unless he wins, and he is available 24/7 at (323) 716-1992. Moe has recovered $105,000 for an uninsured client with a broken sternum. Past results do not promise a similar outcome. Se habla Espanol.

Talk to a Long Beach drunk driving accident lawyer

Call (323) 716-1992 for a free, no-obligation case review. You pay nothing unless we win, and we'll handle the insurance companies for you. Learn more about our drunk-driving crashes representation →

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