El Paso DWI Wrongful Death Lawyer — When a Drunk Driver Kills Your Passenger, Your Family Has Rights the Criminal Court Cannot Give You
If you are reading this because someone you love was killed by a drunk driver on Gateway North — or anywhere in El Paso — you are probably sitting with two things right now: grief that does not fit inside your chest, and anger that the person who did this was already breaking the law when he got behind the wheel. You may have heard that the driver was arrested and charged, and you may think that is the end of it — that the criminal case will handle everything. It will not. The criminal case punishes the driver. It does not pay your family. It does not replace the income your loved one earned. It does not cover the funeral. It does not compensate the loss of the person who held your family together.
That is what we do. We are Attorney911 — The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC. We handle wrongful death cases in Texas, including DWI wrongful deaths in El Paso County. Ralph Manginello has spent 27+ years in courtrooms, including federal court. Lupe Peña spent years inside a national insurance-defense firm — the rooms where adjusters and their software decide how to deny, delay, and devalue claims exactly like yours — and now he sits on your side of the table, in English or in Spanish. We work on contingency: we do not get paid unless we win your case. The call is free. The number is 1-888-ATTY-911. We answer 24 hours a day, seven days a week — with real staff, not an answering service.
What follows is everything we would want you to know if you were sitting across our desk right now. It is legal information, not legal advice — every case depends on its own facts. But it is the truth about how these cases actually work in El Paso County, and it is the truth the insurance company hopes you never read.
What Happened on Gateway North — and Why It Was Not an “Accident”
On a Sunday at approximately 2:00 a.m., an 18-year-old driver was operating a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado at a high rate of speed on the 3900 block of Gateway North, near the Cassidy Road exit in northeast El Paso. Gateway North is US Highway 54 — the Patriot Freeway — the major north-south controlled-access highway that connects central El Paso to the northeast corridor and onward toward Alamogordo. The Cassidy Road exit is a well-known interchange that has been the site of multiple serious and fatal crashes. The roadway at this stretch features multiple lanes, signalized intersections at the exit ramp, and the elevated speeds typical of interstate-grade freeway segments transitioning to surface-street conditions. At 2:00 a.m. on a Sunday, this corridor carries a heightened risk from impaired drivers, particularly around bar-closing hours.
The driver lost control and struck a signal light. His passenger, 33-year-old Cesar Chavez Guillen, died from injuries sustained in the crash. The driver was arrested and charged with intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle and intoxicated assault with a vehicle. This crash was the 37th traffic fatality in El Paso this year — matching the same count from the prior year.
We use the word “crash,” not “accident.” An accident is something no one could prevent. When a person chooses to drink, chooses to drive, and chooses to speed down a freeway at 2:00 a.m., the result is not an accident. It is a series of decisions — each one a choice — and the law in Texas treats those choices as exactly what they are: negligence, and in some cases, the predicate for punitive damages.
The Criminal Case and the Civil Case Are Two Separate Tracks — Here Is What That Means for Your Family
The criminal prosecution punishes the driver. It can result in prison time, probation, license revocation, and fines paid to the state. It cannot — by design — pay your family for what you lost. A criminal court does not award damages to the victim’s family. It does not calculate the lost wages of a 33-year-old who had decades of earning capacity ahead of him. It does not compensate a parent, spouse, or child for the loss of companionship, guidance, and emotional support. Only a civil wrongful death action can do that.
Here is something we need to be honest about, because it matters to how we build the case: criminal charges, by themselves, are not conclusive evidence of civil liability. The verified legal definition of negligence — the foundation of every civil injury claim — is:
“Negligence is the failure to behave with the level of care that a reasonable person would have exercised under the same circumstances. Either a person’s actions or omissions of actions can be found negligent.”
A criminal charge is an accusation. It tells us the state believes it has evidence to prove the driver was intoxicated. But in a civil case, we must independently prove that the driver’s conduct fell below the standard of care a reasonable person would have exercised, and that this failure caused your loved one’s death. The good news is that the evidence we need — blood alcohol concentration results, police crash reports, witness statements, the vehicle’s event data recorder — overlaps heavily with the criminal investigation. But we do not assume the criminal case does our work for us. We build our own.
If the driver is convicted or pleads guilty, that conviction may be admissible in the civil case and can significantly strengthen our position. But we prepare every case as if we must prove negligence on our own — because that is how a case is built to win.
Who Can Be Held Liable When a Drunk Driver Kills a Passenger
This is the question that determines whether your family recovers $30,000 or $3,000,000. Most people assume the only defendant is the driver. That assumption can cost a family everything. In a DWI wrongful death case in Texas, there are potentially four separate sources of recovery — and identifying all of them is the single most important thing we do in the first weeks of a case.
The intoxicated driver is the first and most obvious defendant. He was operating the vehicle while intoxicated, speeding, and lost control. His direct negligence — the choice to drink, the choice to drive, the choice to speed — caused the death of his passenger. His liability is the foundation of the case. But an 18-year-old driver in Texas likely carries the legal minimum liability coverage, and likely has negligible personal assets. If he is the only defendant, the recovery may be limited to whatever his insurance policy pays.
The owner of the vehicle, if different from the driver, is a second potential defendant. Texas recognizes negligent entrustment as a basis for holding a vehicle owner liable when the owner knew or should have known of the driver’s propensity for intoxication, underage drinking, or reckless driving — and nonetheless gave the driver access to the vehicle. If the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado was titled to a parent, relative, or friend who knew this young man drank and drove, that owner may be legally responsible for the death. And that owner may carry insurance with higher limits than the driver — or may have assets the driver does not.
The alcohol provider — a bar, restaurant, retailer, or any licensed establishment that served alcohol to the driver before the crash — is a third potential defendant. Under Texas’s Dram Shop Act, if a licensed provider served an obviously intoxicated person, or served a person under 21 years of age, and that service was a proximate cause of the resulting damages, the provider may be liable. An 18-year-old cannot legally purchase or possess alcohol in Texas. If a bar or restaurant served him, that establishment violated the law — and may be responsible for the death that followed. Dram shop defendants often carry liquor liability insurance with substantially higher limits than a personal auto policy.
The passenger’s own auto insurance — specifically, uninsured or underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage — is a fourth potential source of recovery. If the at-fault driver is underinsured (which he likely is, if he carries only minimum limits), the passenger’s own policy or a household relative’s policy may provide underinsured motorist coverage applicable to the loss. This is not a claim against the passenger — it is a claim against the insurance the passenger or his family paid premiums for, precisely for this situation. Many families do not know this coverage exists, and insurance companies do not volunteer it.
Texas Dram Shop Liability: When the Bar That Served the Driver Shares the Blame
Here is what a generalist lawyer often misses, and what the insurance company is counting on your family never discovering: the source of the alcohol matters as much as the driver’s choices. If a licensed establishment — a bar, a restaurant, a nightclub, a convenience store — served alcohol to this 18-year-old driver before the crash, that establishment may share legal responsibility for the death.
Texas’s Dram Shop Act creates a path to hold licensed alcohol providers accountable when their service contributes to a DWI death. The key elements are straightforward but require careful proof: the provider served a person who was obviously intoxicated to the point of presenting a clear danger to themselves or others, or served a person under 21 years of age; and that service was a proximate cause of the damages. For an 18-year-old — someone who cannot legally be served alcohol at all — the “under 21” element is a powerful angle because there is no need to prove obvious intoxication at the time of service. The service itself was illegal.
This is why the investigation into where the driver was drinking before the crash is the most time-sensitive work in the entire case. Bar surveillance footage — which can show the driver’s condition, who he was with, and what he was served — overwrites on a cycle that can be as short as 7 to 30 days. Credit card receipts and point-of-sale records that prove what was purchased may be purged within 60 to 90 days. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission regulates licensed providers and maintains records of violations — but accessing those records requires a formal request, and the evidence that matters most is the evidence that disappears first.
A dram shop defendant with adequate liquor liability insurance can transform a case from a $30,000 minimum-limits recovery into a case worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars — or more. But only if the evidence is preserved before it is gone. You can learn more about how insurance claims work after a serious crash and how we approach these investigations.
Negligent Entrustment: Who Owned the Truck, and What Did They Know?
The 2014 Chevrolet Silverado that the intoxicated driver was operating may not have belonged to him. In Texas, an 18-year-old may be driving a vehicle titled to a parent, a sibling, a relative, or a family friend. If the owner knew — or should have known — that this young man had a propensity for drinking and driving, or for reckless driving, and still handed over the keys, that owner may be liable under Texas’s negligent entrustment doctrine.
Negligent entrustment is not automatic. We must prove that the owner knew or had reason to know of the driver’s dangerous tendencies. This is where the investigation digs: Was the driver known to drink and drive? Did the owner know he was out drinking that night? Was there a history of reckless driving, prior DWI arrests, or known substance abuse? Did the owner provide the vehicle knowing the driver was underage and likely to be drinking?
If negligent entrustment applies, the vehicle owner’s insurance policy — which may have higher limits than the driver’s — becomes available to your family. And if the owner has personal assets beyond insurance, those may be reachable as well. This is why identifying the vehicle’s titled owner is one of the first things we do, and it is a step that many families never know to take. For more on how wrongful death claims work in Texas, including how multiple defendants and their insurance policies interact, that resource walks through the full framework.
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage: The Coverage Your Loved One Paid For
Here is a fact that surprises most families: when a drunk driver with minimum insurance kills your passenger, your loved one’s own auto insurance may be the best source of recovery — and the insurance company will not tell you this.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage is designed for exactly this situation. When the at-fault driver’s insurance is insufficient to compensate the harm — which it almost certainly will be when an 18-year-old carries only the legal minimum — UM/UIM coverage steps in to make up the difference. The passenger’s own policy may provide this coverage. So may the policies of household family members — a spouse, a parent, a sibling living in the same household. These policies can stack, meaning multiple coverages may be available to your family.
UM/UIM is not a gift from the insurance company. It is a benefit your loved one paid premiums for. Filing a UM/UIM claim is not “suing yourself” — it is making a claim against a contract of insurance that was purchased precisely for the situation where an underinsured driver causes catastrophic harm. But insurance companies handle UM/UIM claims with the same delay and devaluation tactics they use on liability claims, which is why having an attorney who knows how these claims are valued and negotiated matters. Our car accident practice covers how UM/UIM works in Texas in more detail, and this video from Ralph Manginello explains uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in plain language.
The Evidence Is Dying — Right Now
This is the hardest part of the conversation, and it is the part that cannot wait. Every piece of evidence that proves what happened — and who is responsible — is on a clock. Some of it is already gone. The rest is dying every day.
Bar and restaurant surveillance footage is the fastest-dying evidence in a DWI wrongful death case. If the driver was at a licensed establishment before the crash, the video that shows his condition, what he was served, and who he was with may overwrite within 7 to 30 days. Once it is gone, it is gone. There is no way to recover overwritten footage. This is why a preservation demand letter — a formal legal notice requiring the establishment to preserve all footage, receipts, and records — must go out immediately. Not next week. Not after the funeral. Now.
The vehicle’s event data recorder (EDR) — the “black box” in the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado — captured pre-crash data including vehicle speed, braking input, throttle position, and seatbelt status in the seconds before impact. This data corroborates the “high rate of speed” finding and documents exactly what happened in the final moments. But the vehicle sits in an impound lot or with the insurance company, and it may be released, sold, or scrapped within weeks if no preservation demand is issued. Once the vehicle is gone, the EDR data goes with it.
Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) test results from the driver’s blood draw — typically performed within hours of arrest — quantify the level of intoxication. These results are available within weeks but must be formally requested. The BAC number is critical for two reasons: it establishes civil liability against the driver, and it is the foundation of the dram shop case, because a toxicologist can work backward from the BAC at the time of the crash to establish the driver’s level of intoxication at the time he was served.
The police crash report (CR-3) and the criminal investigation file establish speed, intoxication, cause, and the criminal charges. The crash report is typically available within days to weeks. The criminal file may be restricted until the prosecution concludes, but our civil investigation proceeds independently.
Cell phone records for the driver may show communications establishing his location and timeline of drinking, identification of companions, and potential distraction. Provider retention periods for call detail records are limited — preservation must be requested immediately.
Witness statements and scene photographs from the El Paso Police Department’s investigation provide independent corroboration of speed, loss of control, and point of impact. Witness memories fade within weeks. The El Paso Police Department’s Crimes Against Persons unit typically investigates fatal crashes, and their work product is foundational — but civilian photographs, including those posted to community safety pages, should be archived immediately before they are removed.
TABC license records and violation history of any identified alcohol provider can establish a pattern of over-service or service to minors. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission regulates licensed alcohol providers, and administrative records may document prior violations. These records are public but historical violation records require a formal records request.
The preservation letter goes out the day you call. Not the day after. Not after the family has had time to grieve — because the evidence does not wait for grief. It waits for no one. This is not pressure. It is physics — surveillance systems overwrite on a schedule, and that schedule does not pause for funerals.
How Insurance Adjusters Work DWI Wrongful Death Claims
Lupe Peña spent years inside a national insurance-defense firm. He sat in the rooms where adjusters decide how to handle claims. He knows the software they use to value claims, the doctors they select for independent medical examinations, and the tactics they deploy to reduce what they pay. Here is what the insurance industry does not want your family to know — and what we prepare for in every case.
Play 1: The fast, small settlement offer. Within days of the crash, the at-fault driver’s insurance company may contact your family with a settlement offer — often for the policy limits, which at Texas’s minimum may be $30,000 per person. This offer comes with a release: sign here, and the claim is over forever. The offer is designed to close the file before your family has hired a lawyer, identified other defendants, or discovered the full value of the case. The counter: do not sign anything, do not accept any check, and do not speak with the insurance company until you have consulted an attorney. The $30,000 may be a fraction of what your family is entitled to — but once you sign the release, you cannot go back.
Play 2: The “friendly” recorded statement. An adjuster will call — sounding warm, concerned, sympathetic — and ask you to “just tell us what happened” on a recorded line. Everything you say can and will be used to reduce the value of the claim. If you say “he was a good friend of the driver,” the adjuster may argue the passenger assumed the risk by riding with someone he knew had been drinking. If you say “he might have had a few drinks too,” the adjuster may argue comparative fault — even though the passenger was not driving. The counter: decline the recorded statement. You are under no obligation to give one. Let your attorney manage all communication with the insurance company.
Play 3: The delay. The insurance company may stall — requesting additional documentation, claiming they need more time to investigate, waiting for the criminal case to resolve — all while the statute of limitations clock runs. Texas’s wrongful death statute of limitations gives the family two years from the date of death to file suit. Two years sounds like a long time. It is not. When the insurance company knows the deadline is approaching and the family has not hired a lawyer, they have no incentive to offer a fair settlement — they are waiting for the deadline to pass. The counter: the preservation letter goes out immediately, the investigation begins immediately, and the case is prepared for filing well before the deadline — which gives the insurance company a reason to take the claim seriously.
Play 4: The comparative fault argument. Texas follows a modified comparative negligence rule — if the person killed is found to be 51% or more at fault, the family’s recovery is barred. Below that threshold, recovery is reduced by the percentage of fault assigned. The insurance company will argue that the passenger knew the driver was intoxicated and chose to ride anyway, or that the passenger was not wearing a seatbelt, or that the passenger contributed to the crash in some way. Every percentage point they can pin on the passenger is money in their pocket. The counter: we investigate the seatbelt status (the EDR data captures this), we investigate whether the passenger knew the driver was impaired, and we build the case to minimize any fault allocation — but we also prepare the family for the reality that some fault allocation is possible and build the damages case high enough that even a reduced recovery is substantial.
Play 5: The Stowers trap — in reverse. Under Texas’s settlement-demand rules, when a liability insurer receives a settlement demand within policy limits and fails to accept it when an ordinarily prudent insurer would, the insurer can be exposed to liability beyond the policy limits. We use this to our advantage: when we identify a policy that is approaching the claim’s full value, we present a formal settlement demand that puts the carrier at risk if they refuse to settle. The insurer knows that refusing a reasonable demand within policy limits could mean paying far more — and that pressure is what produces fair settlements.
What a 33-Year-Old’s Life Is Worth in Texas — and Who Can Actually Pay
The wrongful death of a 33-year-old man supports substantial damages. But the value of the case and the collectibility of the case are two different numbers, and both matter. Here is the honest picture.
The damages — what the case is worth if a solvent defendant exists:
A 33-year-old who was employed and healthy had decades of earning capacity ahead of him. Lost earning capacity — the income he would have earned over his remaining work life, reduced to present value — is typically the largest single element of damages. A forensic economist calculates this based on the decedent’s age, occupation, education, earning history, and projected career trajectory. For a 33-year-old, the lost earning capacity alone can support mid-six-to-seven-figure economic damages, depending on his occupation and income history.
Funeral and burial expenses are recoverable. The statutory beneficiaries — spouse, children, and parents — may claim pecuniary loss (the financial support the decedent would have provided), loss of companionship, and mental anguish. Texas does not impose a statutory cap on wrongful death damages in non-medical-malpractice cases, which means the full measure of the family’s loss is potentially compensable.
A survival claim — brought by the estate — may capture pre-death conscious pain and suffering if the passenger survived even briefly after the impact. The violent nature of this crash — a high-speed collision into a fixed signal-light pole — supports a meaningful conscious pain and suffering element if any interval of awareness existed between impact and death. This is a factual question that requires careful investigation of the medical records, the cause of death, and the timeline.
Texas allows exemplary (punitive) damages in cases involving gross negligence or intentional conduct. DWI cases, particularly those involving underage drinking and high-speed driving, can support a punitive damages claim. Texas limits the amount of exemplary damages that may be awarded, but the availability of punitive damages changes the settlement dynamic — it gives the insurance company a reason to take the case seriously.
The collectibility — who can actually pay:
Here is where the case lives or dies, and here is the honest truth an 18-year-old defendant likely carries the legal minimum liability coverage — in Texas, that is $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage. One night in an intensive care unit can exceed $30,000. A funeral can exceed $30,000. The lifetime lost earnings of a 33-year-old can exceed $30,000 many times over. If the driver’s minimum policy is the only source of recovery, the family may receive $30,000 — and nothing more.
But if we identify a dram shop defendant with adequate liquor liability coverage, the case value can rise dramatically. If the vehicle owner has a substantial insurance policy and is liable under negligent entrustment, additional coverage becomes available. If the passenger or his household had UM/UIM coverage, that policy — or multiple policies — may provide the primary recovery. The case value range, depending on which defendants and policies are identified, runs from $30,000 to $100,000 at the low end to $500,000 to $3,000,000 or more at the high end.
That range is not a prediction. It is a map of what is possible depending on the investigation. The investigation is what closes the gap between the low end and the high end. This is why we say: the day you call is the day the clock starts working for you instead of against you.
The Physics of a High-Speed Signal Pole Impact
A 2014 Chevrolet Silverado is a full-size pickup truck. At highway speed — and the police reported a “high rate of speed” — the vehicle carried tremendous kinetic energy. When a vehicle strikes a fixed, rigid object like a signal light pole, the deceleration is nearly instantaneous. The vehicle’s front structure absorbs some of the energy by deforming, but a signal pole is a narrow, rigid object that can concentrate force in a small area of the vehicle’s front end — potentially penetrating the engine compartment rather than being deflected.
For the passenger, the physics are brutal. At the moment of impact, the vehicle stops — but everything inside it, including the passenger’s body, continues moving at the vehicle’s pre-crash speed until it is stopped by the seatbelt, the airbag, the dashboard, the windshield, or the interior structure of the vehicle. The forces on the human body in this scenario are extreme: rapid deceleration causes the brain to impact the inside of the skull (coup-contrecoup injury), the chest and abdomen impact the seatbelt and interior structures (causing internal organ rupture — particularly the liver, spleen, and aorta), and the cervical spine can fracture from the combination of deceleration and head momentum.
Whether the passenger survived briefly after impact — even seconds or minutes — determines whether a survival claim for conscious pain and suffering exists. The medical records, the cause of death determination, and the timeline from crash to pronouncement of death are the evidence that answers this question. An accident reconstructionist and a medical expert work together to establish the mechanism of injury, the interval of consciousness, and the pain and suffering the passenger experienced before death.
How We Build the Case: From Preservation to Resolution
Here is the chronological walk of how a DWI wrongful death case is actually built — not a summary, but the real process.
Week one: Preservation. The day you call, preservation demand letters go out — to the bar or restaurant we identify as a potential alcohol source (freezing surveillance footage, receipts, and service records), to the impound lot or insurance company holding the vehicle (freezing the EDR data and preventing the vehicle from being released or scrapped), to the cell phone providers (freezing call detail records), and to any other entity holding evidence. These letters create a legal obligation to preserve evidence. If evidence is destroyed after a preservation demand is received, the responsible party faces sanctions, adverse inference instructions (the jury may assume the destroyed evidence was as bad as the plaintiff says), and potential separate liability.
Weeks one through four: Investigation. We obtain the police crash report (CR-3), request the BAC and toxicology results, identify the vehicle’s titled owner, trace the driver’s movements in the hours before the crash (credit card statements, social media posts, rideshare records, witness interviews), and identify all potential insurance policies — the driver’s liability policy, the vehicle owner’s policy, any dram shop defendant’s liquor liability policy, and all UM/UIM policies covering the passenger or his household members.
Weeks four through twelve: Expert work. An accident reconstructionist downloads and analyzes the EDR data, establishes the vehicle’s speed and the crash dynamics, and documents the mechanism of injury. A forensic toxicologist analyzes the BAC results and works backward to establish the driver’s level of intoxication at the time of service — the foundation of the dram shop case. A forensic economist calculates the lost earning capacity, the value of household services, and the present value of all economic losses. If a survival claim exists, a medical expert establishes the interval of consciousness and the pain and suffering experienced.
Months three through twelve: Discovery and depositions. If the case does not settle, we file suit and enter discovery — written questions, document requests, and depositions. The bar manager or server who served the driver testifies under oath. The vehicle owner testifies about what they knew. The driver’s friends and companions from that night testify about where they were drinking and how much. The insurance adjuster who valued the claim testifies about how they set the reserve and what factors they considered.
Resolution. Most cases resolve through settlement — often through mediation, where all parties and their insurance companies are in the same room and a neutral mediator facilitates negotiation. We present the full damages picture, the expert testimony, and the liability evidence, and the insurance companies make settlement offers. If the offers are inadequate, we try the case to a jury in El Paso County — twelve people from this community who understand what drunk driving does to a family.
Your First 72 Hours: A Practical Roadmap
If your family has just lost someone to a drunk driver, here is what to do — and what not to do — in the first hours and days.
Do these things:
Get the police report number and the investigating officer’s name. The El Paso Police Department’s Crimes Against Persons unit handles fatal crash investigations. You will need this number to request the crash report and the investigation file.
Secure your loved one’s personal financial records — pay stubs, tax returns, employment records, bank statements. These document his income and earning capacity, which are the foundation of the lost earning capacity damages claim.
Identify the vehicle owner. Was the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado registered to the driver, or to someone else? This information is available through the police report and through vehicle registration records.
Identify every auto insurance policy that may apply — the driver’s policy, the vehicle owner’s policy, the passenger’s own policy, and the policies of household family members. Gather the declarations pages, which list coverage types and limits.
Preserve any physical evidence — the passenger’s clothing and personal effects, photographs from the scene, and any communications (texts, social media posts) that document the evening’s events.
Contact an attorney. The preservation letters and the investigation need to begin immediately. The call is free. The consultation is confidential. You are under no obligation.
Do NOT do these things:
Do not give a recorded statement to any insurance company — yours, the driver’s, or anyone else’s. You are not obligated to do so, and everything you say can be used to reduce your claim.
Do not sign any release, acceptance of settlement, or any document from an insurance company. A $30,000 check may arrive quickly with a release attached. Signing it ends your claim forever — even if the case is worth far more.
Do not discuss the case on social media. Do not post about the crash, the driver, the bar, the insurance company, or your attorney. Insurance companies monitor social media and will use posts against you.
Do not speak with the driver’s family, friends, or attorney. If they contact you, refer them to your lawyer. Anything you say can be reported and used.
Do not assume the criminal case will take care of everything. It will not. The criminal case and the civil case are separate. The criminal case punishes the driver. The civil case compensates your family. Both can proceed at the same time.
Su Familia Tiene Derechos — Información en Español
Si perdió a un ser querido por un conductor ebrio en El Paso, su familia tiene derechos legales que el caso criminal no puede proteger. El caso criminal castiga al conductor. Pero solo un caso civil por muerte por negligencia puede proporcionar compensación económica para su familia — los salarios perdidos, los gastos funerarios, la pérdida de compañía y el dolor emocional.
Si el conductor era menor de 21 años, cualquier bar o restaurante que le sirvió alcohol puede ser responsable bajo la ley de Texas. Si el vehículo pertenecía a otra persona que sabía que el conductor bebía, esa persona también puede ser responsable. Y si el pasajero tenía seguro de automóvil con cobertura de motorista no asegurado o insuficientemente asegurado, esa póliza puede pagar la compensación que el conductor no puede.
La evidencia desaparece rápidamente — las cámaras de seguridad de los bares se sobrescriben en días. Llame hoy. La consulta es gratis. No cobramos a menos que ganemos su caso. Hablamos Español. 1-888-ATTY-911.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the family sue if the driver was already charged with intoxication manslaughter?
Yes. The criminal case and the civil case are completely separate. Criminal charges punish the driver on behalf of the state. A civil wrongful death lawsuit compensates the family on behalf of the person who was killed. The family can file a civil lawsuit regardless of whether the criminal case has concluded — and the evidence from the criminal investigation (BAC results, police reports, witness statements) can be used to build the civil case. The family does not need to wait for the criminal case to finish before consulting an attorney or beginning the civil investigation. In fact, waiting is dangerous, because evidence disappears on its own schedule.
How much is a DWI wrongful death case worth in El Paso?
The value depends entirely on who the defendants are and what insurance coverage exists. If the only defendant is an 18-year-old driver with minimum liability insurance, the recovery may be limited to $30,000. If a dram shop defendant (a bar or restaurant that served the driver) is identified with adequate liquor liability coverage, or if the vehicle owner is liable under negligent entrustment with a substantial policy, or if the passenger had significant UM/UIM coverage, the case value can reach $500,000 to $3,000,000 or more. A 33-year-old’s lost earning capacity alone can support mid-six-to-seven-figure economic damages — but only if a solvent defendant or adequate insurance exists to pay. The investigation determines the value.
How long does the family have to file a wrongful death lawsuit in Texas?
Texas’s wrongful death statute of limitations gives the family two years from the date of death to file suit. This is a hard deadline — if the lawsuit is not filed within two years, the claim is lost forever. Two years sounds like ample time, but it is not, because the investigation, evidence preservation, expert analysis, and discovery process take months. The insurance company knows the deadline and has every incentive to delay until it passes. The preservation letters and the investigation should begin immediately, not as the deadline approaches.
What if the drunk driver has no insurance or only minimal insurance?
This is the most common situation in DWI wrongful death cases, and it is the reason identifying alternative defendants and insurance sources is so important. If the driver carries only Texas’s legal minimum — $30,000 per person — the family’s recovery from the driver’s insurance alone may be $30,000. But the passenger’s own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage, the vehicle owner’s policy (if different from the driver), a dram shop defendant’s liquor liability coverage, and the policies of household family members may all provide additional recovery. Finding every available policy is one of the most important things we do.
Can a bar or restaurant be sued for serving alcohol to the driver?
Yes — under Texas’s Dram Shop Act, if a licensed alcohol provider served a person who was obviously intoxicated, or served a person under 21 years of age, and that service was a proximate cause of the resulting damages, the provider may be liable. For an 18-year-old driver, the service of any alcohol was illegal — there is no need to prove obvious intoxication at the time of service. The challenge is identifying which establishment served the driver, which requires immediate investigation into the driver’s movements in the hours before the crash. Bar surveillance footage, credit card receipts, and point-of-sale records are the evidence — and they disappear quickly.
What if the vehicle was not owned by the driver?
If the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado was owned by someone other than the driver — a parent, relative, or friend — that owner may be liable under Texas’s negligent entrustment doctrine if they knew or should have known of the driver’s propensity for intoxication or reckless driving and still allowed him to use the vehicle. The owner’s insurance policy may have higher limits than the driver’s, and the owner may have personal assets. Identifying the vehicle’s titled owner is one of the first investigative steps.
Does the passenger’s own auto insurance cover a drunk driving death?
It can. If the passenger or a household family member carried uninsured or underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage, that coverage may apply when the at-fault driver’s insurance is insufficient. UM/UIM coverage is designed for this exact situation — an underinsured at-fault driver causing catastrophic harm. The passenger’s own policy and the policies of household relatives may stack, meaning multiple coverages could be available. The insurance company will not volunteer this information. Your attorney must identify and pursue every available policy.
Can the family still recover if the passenger knew the driver had been drinking?
Possibly — but the recovery may be reduced. Texas follows a modified comparative negligence rule: if the person killed is found to be 51% or more at fault, recovery is barred. Below that threshold, recovery is reduced by the percentage of fault. The insurance company will argue that the passenger knew or should have known the driver was intoxicated and assumed the risk by riding with him. However, the passenger was not driving and did not cause the crash — and the drunk driver’s decision to speed down a freeway was the primary cause. We investigate and present the facts to minimize any fault allocation, and we build the damages case high enough that even a reduced recovery is meaningful. Every case depends on its specific facts, and this is a question that requires careful legal analysis.
What is the difference between a wrongful death claim and a survival claim?
A wrongful death claim is brought by the statutory beneficiaries — the spouse, children, and parents of the person killed — and compensates them for their own losses: pecuniary loss (financial support the decedent would have provided), loss of companionship, and mental anguish. A survival claim is brought by the estate of the person killed and compensates for what the decedent himself lost: pre-death pain and suffering, and medical expenses incurred before death. In a high-speed crash like this one, if the passenger survived even briefly after impact, a survival claim may capture a meaningful conscious pain and suffering element. Both claims can be pursued simultaneously, and both are part of a complete wrongful death case.
Should the family wait for the criminal case to finish before hiring a civil attorney?
No. The criminal case and the civil case operate on different timelines, and the evidence that matters most to the civil case — bar surveillance footage, vehicle EDR data, cell phone records, and witness memories — is disappearing while the criminal case proceeds. The criminal prosecution can take months or years. By the time it concludes, the evidence that could identify a dram shop defendant may be gone. The preservation letters and the civil investigation should begin immediately. The two cases can proceed in parallel, and our civil investigation does not interfere with the criminal prosecution.
Why Attorney911 — Ralph Manginello and Lupe Peña
When you call Attorney911, you are calling a firm that has spent decades inside the system that will try to minimize what happened to your family. We know how insurance companies value claims because Lupe Peña used to do it from the other side — as an attorney at a national insurance-defense firm, trained in the software that adjusters use to set reserves, the doctors they select for examinations, and the tactics they deploy to delay and devalue. He knows the playbook because he wrote part of it. Now he uses that knowledge for the families the insurance industry was built to resist. Lupe’s full background is available, and it matters to your case — because the insider advantage is not a marketing claim. It is a structural edge.
Ralph Manginello has spent 27+ years in courtrooms, including federal court. He was a journalist before he was a lawyer — he knows how to find the story the evidence tells, and how to tell it to a jury. He does not lose cases because he was outworked. The firm has recovered $50 million in aggregate for injured clients, including a $5 million brain-injury settlement, a $3.8 million amputation settlement, and millions in truck-crash and wrongful death recoveries. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes — but they tell you what we are built to do.
We handle DWI cases and wrongful death cases across Texas, including El Paso County. We work on contingency — 33.33% before trial, 40% if the case goes to trial. We do not get paid unless we win your case. The consultation is free. The call is confidential. We answer 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with live staff — not a machine, not an answering service. Hablamos Español. Lupe conducts full consultations in Spanish without an interpreter.
If you lost someone you love to a drunk driver on Gateway North — or anywhere in El Paso — the evidence is dying. The bar surveillance footage is overwriting. The vehicle is sitting in an impound lot. The insurance company has already opened a file and set a reserve. Every day you wait is a day that evidence disappears and the insurance company’s position strengthens. The day you call is the day the clock starts working for your family instead of against them.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911. Free consultation. No fee unless we win. Hablamos Español.
This page is legal information, not legal advice. Every case depends on its own facts. Contacting the firm is free and confidential. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes.