Hit by a Drunk Driver in West Hills: Your Legal Options

Arya Firoozmand, Esq.

Local West Hills Injury Attorney · UCLA Law

Arya Firoozmand is the founding partner at L&F Brown. He grew up directly adjacent to West Hills, attended El Camino Real High School, graduated from UCLA Law School, and built his practice serving the community he's from.

Being hit by a drunk driver is different from a standard traffic crash. The injuries may be similar, but the legal landscape is not. California gives victims of DUI crashes access to remedies that are not available in ordinary negligence cases, including punitive damages that can significantly increase your total recovery. If you were hit by an impaired driver anywhere in West Hills, whether on Victory Blvd, Platt Ave, Fallbrook Ave, or the 101 Freeway, understanding your options from the start puts you in a much stronger position.

What Happens Immediately After a DUI Crash in West Hills

If the crash happened on a surface street in West Hills, LAPD Topanga Division is the responding agency. If it happened on the 101 Freeway, CHP responds. In either case, the responding officers will evaluate the other driver for impairment. Field sobriety tests, a preliminary breath test, and if the driver is arrested, a chemical test at the station will be administered.

The DUI arrest and associated documentation are critical to your civil case. The arrest report, chemical test results, field sobriety test notes, and the arresting officer's observations all become evidence you can use in your injury claim. If the driver is convicted, that conviction can be introduced in civil proceedings as evidence of negligence. If charges are still pending, the criminal case may run parallel to your civil case on different timelines.

Request a copy of the incident report and arrest report as soon as they are available. Your attorney can obtain these records and monitor the parallel criminal case for developments that benefit your civil claim.

Get to West Hills Hospital the Same Day

Regardless of how you feel at the scene, get to West Hills Hospital and Medical Center at 7300 Medical Center Drive for evaluation the same day. DUI crashes often involve high-speed or high-impact collisions because impaired drivers fail to brake, swerve, or respond appropriately. The force involved can produce injuries that are not immediately obvious.

West Hills Hospital provides full emergency services including imaging, trauma care, and specialist referrals. The emergency records from your same-day visit establish the medical foundation of your claim. Insurers and defense attorneys routinely scrutinize the gap between a crash and first medical treatment. A same-day record eliminates that vulnerability.

Keep records of every visit, every referral, every imaging session, every prescription, and every bill from West Hills Hospital and subsequent providers. This documentation becomes the basis for calculating your compensatory damages and supports a punitive damages claim.

Your Civil Case Is Separate from the Criminal DUI Case

Many victims of drunk driving crashes do not realize that the criminal DUI prosecution and their civil personal injury claim are entirely separate proceedings. The District Attorney's office pursues the criminal case. You, with your attorney, pursue the civil case. The two run on different timelines and serve different purposes.

The criminal case determines whether the driver faces fines, license suspension, probation, or jail time. Your civil case determines whether you receive compensation for your injuries, losses, and suffering. A criminal conviction helps your civil case by establishing the driver's conduct, but you do not need to wait for the criminal case to conclude before filing or settling your civil claim. In fact, waiting too long risks running up against California's two-year statute of limitations.

Developments in the criminal case, such as a conviction, guilty plea, or introduction of blood alcohol evidence, can strengthen your civil position. An experienced attorney will coordinate the timing of your civil case to take advantage of those developments where possible.

Punitive Damages: What Sets DUI Cases Apart

In a standard car accident case, California allows you to recover compensatory damages: your medical costs, lost wages, property damage, and pain and suffering. These damages make you whole for what the crash cost you.

In a DUI case, California Civil Code Section 3294 allows an additional category: punitive damages. Punitive damages are awarded not to compensate the victim but to punish the defendant for conduct that was malicious, oppressive, or in conscious disregard of others' rights and safety. California courts have consistently held that choosing to drive drunk qualifies as conscious disregard for others' safety.

Punitive damages are not capped in California. They are determined by the jury based on the nature and severity of the defendant's conduct and their financial ability to pay. In cases involving high blood alcohol levels, prior DUI convictions, or particularly reckless behavior, punitive awards can be substantial.

There is an important caveat: most auto insurance policies exclude punitive damages from coverage. If punitive damages are awarded, the driver must pay them personally. This makes the driver's personal financial situation relevant to your case. If they have assets, real property, business interests, or other financial resources, those can be pursued to satisfy a punitive award.

The Driver's Insurance and Personal Assets

Your first source of compensation is the drunk driver's auto liability insurance. California requires minimum liability coverage of $15,000 per person and $30,000 per occurrence for bodily injury, though many policies carry higher limits.

If the drunk driver's insurance limits are insufficient to cover your damages, especially in a serious injury case where medical bills from West Hills Hospital and ongoing care can exceed six figures, you have additional options:

Your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM): If your own auto policy includes UM/UIM coverage, you can claim against your own insurer for the gap between the drunk driver's policy limits and your actual damages. This is one of the most overlooked protections in California auto insurance.

The driver's personal assets: If you obtain a judgment exceeding insurance limits, that judgment can be enforced against the driver's personal assets, including bank accounts, real property, and wages. Punitive damages must be collected from the driver directly.

The Timeline of a DUI Injury Case in West Hills

DUI injury cases typically take longer to resolve than standard car accident cases because of the parallel criminal proceeding and additional damages at issue.

Immediately: Seek medical care at West Hills Hospital. Document the scene and preserve evidence. Do not give a recorded statement to the at-fault driver's insurer.

Within days: Contact an attorney. The LAPD Topanga Division or CHP incident and arrest reports become available. An attorney sends a preservation letter for any available camera footage from the crash location on Victory Blvd, Platt Ave, Fallbrook Ave, or wherever the crash occurred.

Within weeks to months: The criminal DUI case proceeds. Your attorney files insurance claims and begins building the civil case with medical records, police reports, and witness statements.

Months to a year or more: If the criminal case resolves with a conviction, it strengthens your civil position. Settlement negotiations with the at-fault insurer happen in this range. If no fair settlement is reached, litigation at Chatsworth Courthouse begins.

Cases involving serious injuries, punitive damages, and underinsured drivers can take two years or longer to fully resolve. The goal is reaching the right result, not the fastest one.

Do Not Handle This Alone

DUI crash cases involve more legal complexity than standard auto claims. The criminal parallel, the punitive damages analysis, the driver's personal asset exposure, and the coordination with your own UM/UIM insurer all require legal expertise. Insurance companies know this complexity and use it to their advantage when dealing with unrepresented claimants.

Our West Hills drunk driver accident lawyers handle DUI injury cases on a contingency basis, no fees unless we recover for you. If you were hit by an impaired driver in West Hills, call us to discuss what happened and understand your full range of options. Visit our West Hills personal injury page to learn more about how we help injured clients throughout the area.