The messaging of advertisements for personal injury law firms that you see on billboards, banner ads, and short-form commercials that you must watch before your favorite clickbait videos if you are too poor to afford YouTube Premium is almost comically simplistic. They communicate that, if you have been injured in an accident, there is someone out there who will pay your medical bills and otherwise compensate you for the money you lost because of your injuries. Once you are old enough to understand how lawsuits work, you can figure out that suing the at-fault driver in a car accident usually leads nowhere. If the at-fault driver had enough money to compensate you for your medical bills, they would have had better things to do than drive on the same roads where you drive and crash into your car.
When you are suffering enough financial hardship that you communicate with a lawyer about your personal injury case, you find out that you are more likely to resolve the matter through an insurance claim instead of a lawsuit, and that the party that pays is usually someone other than the at-fault driver. To find out which entities might be legally responsible for the accident that caused your injuries and why, contact a Santa Fe personal injury lawyer.
Recent Incidents of Driving Drunk on the Job in New Mexico
An employee of a fire department in New Mexico is facing criminal charges, including DWI and vehicular homicide, arising from an incident where he tried to pass another vehicle on U.S. Highway 491 near Shiprock but struck the other car, killing the driver. Similarly, a Rio Arriba man is facing DWI manslaughter charges following an incident where he drove drunk from his workplace in a company vehicle and collided with a commercial truck; the truck driver died of his injuries shortly after the accident.
The Legal Doctrine of Vicarious Liability
When the driver who caused the collision is driving a vehicle belonging to a business, the company that owns the vehicle bears at least some legal responsibility for the accident. The doctrine of vicarious liability holds that the owner of an item of property, such as a vehicle, is legally responsible for damage caused by the property. It is the same legal rule by which the owner of a dog that bites someone is legally responsible for the incident. Likewise, the parents of minor children are legally responsible for damage that their children cause. For example, if a teen driver causes an accident, his or her parents are legally responsible, both in their capacity as parents of the driver and as owners of the vehicle.
Contact Slate Stern About Car Accident Lawsuits
Slate Stern is a personal injury lawyer who represents plaintiffs injured in car accidents in New Mexico, in which the driver who caused the accident was not the owner of the vehicle. Contact Slate Stern in Santa Fe, New Mexico or call (505)814-1517 to discuss your case.
Sources
https://www.azfamily.com/2026/01/17/gilbert-man-charged-after-deadly-dui-crash-new-mexico
Photo by BENCE BOROS on Unsplash