Most people who file personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits do so shortly before the deadline for filing. Part of this delay is that they are spending time preparing documents to meet legal requirements so that the court will consider the lawsuit rather than dismiss it outright. Before that, though, it often takes a while to persuade people whose lives were shattered by accidents caused by someone else’s negligence that money will make anything better. In some cases, the plaintiffs have suffered permanent injuries, and no amount of money can restore them to their state of health from before the accident. In other cases, the plaintiffs have lost a family member, and no amount of money can replace the person they lost.
The damages you can recover in a personal injury lawsuit can pay for the medical treatment you will need to manage your symptoms, as well as the income you can no longer earn from work. A wrongful death lawsuit cannot replace a deceased family member, but it can replace the financial support that he or she provided. For help looking at the financial side of your situation after a catastrophic car accident upended your life, contact a Santa Fe car accident lawyer.
At-Fault Driver Had Previous DWI Convictions
In November 2025, a car accident in Los Lunas deprived two children of their mother. A Ford pickup truck was speeding on El Cerro Loop, and to make matters worse, it was going in the wrong direction. The truck collided head-on with a car that was going in the right direction. The driver of the struck vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. She was 38 years old, and her two children, who were 12 and 7 years old respectively, were also in the car at the time of the accident. They were seriously injured enough to require hospitalization, but their injuries were not life-threatening.
When police arrived at the scene of the accident, the driver of the pickup truck acknowledged that he had caused the accident and told the police to take him to jail. He refused to give a breath sample or to take field sobriety tests, but he admitted that he had consumed alcohol before driving.
The driver of the pickup, 37, was booked into the Valencia County jail. He is facing criminal charges, including vehicular homicide and DWI resulting in serious bodily injury. According to the KRQE 13 news website, he has prior DWI convictions. Regardless of the outcome of the criminal case against him, the injured children and other surviving family members of the victim have the right to file personal injury or wrongful death lawsuits in civil court against the other driver or any other parties responsible for the accident.
Contact Slate Stern About Car Accident Lawsuits
Slate Stern is a personal injury lawyer who represents plaintiffs injured in car accidents in New Mexico. Contact Slate Stern in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or call (505)814-1517 to discuss your case.
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