What Happened on South Service Road — and Why It Was Not an “Accident”
If you are reading this page, you already know the outline of what happened. Late on the night of May 2, a 2025 Nissan Versa was traveling east on the south side of Midland, near the intersection of South Service Road and Cotton Flat Road. According to the Midland Police Department affidavit, the driver did not stop at a stop sign. The vehicle continued through the intersection at a high rate of speed, struck a curb, became airborne over a drainage retention pond, and rolled over. The passenger — 32 years old — suffered serious injuries and was taken to Midland Memorial Hospital, where he fought for fifteen days before dying on May 17. Texas Department of Public Safety toxicology results later confirmed the driver’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.143 — nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08. She has been charged with intoxication manslaughter.
We are Attorney911. We are writing to you — the family, the parent, the spouse, the friend who is sitting at a kitchen table in Midland or Odessa or anywhere across the Permian Basin, trying to understand what comes next. Here is the first thing you need to hear: this was not an accident. In the law, “accident” means something unforeseeable. A person who chooses to drive with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.143 — who runs a stop sign at high speed and launches a vehicle over a drainage pond — has not had an accident. They have made a series of choices, and those choices killed someone you love. Texas law recognizes the difference, and it gives your family powerful tools to hold every responsible party accountable.
The criminal prosecution matters. But it is not your case. The criminal court will decide whether the driver goes to prison. It will not pay your family for what was taken. The civil wrongful death and survival action is your case — and it is a completely separate fight, with a different standard of proof, different evidence, different defendants, and different remedies. The two cases can and should run in parallel. What follows is everything we know about how a case like this is built, what the law gives you, what evidence is already disappearing, and what to do about it — starting now, not next week. Learn more about our wrongful death practice and how we approach these cases.
The Criminal Case and Your Civil Rights: Two Separate Roads
The driver in this crash has been charged with intoxication manslaughter, a second-degree felony under Texas law. She was booked into the Midland County Detention Center on July 7, with bond set at $750,000. The criminal case is the State of Texas versus the driver — and its purpose is punishment, not compensation. A conviction may bring a prison sentence. It will not bring your loved one back, and it will not pay the medical bills, the funeral costs, the lost wages, or the lifetime of missing that follows a death like this.
Your civil case is different in every way that matters. It is the family’s case, filed in civil court, seeking compensation from every party whose choices contributed to the death. The standard of proof is lower — a preponderance of the evidence, not beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendants are broader — not just the driver, but potentially the bar or restaurant that served alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person, and anyone who negligently entrusted a vehicle. The remedies are financial — compensatory damages for what your family lost, and exemplary damages designed to punish and deter the kind of conscious indifference that drunk driving represents.
One critical fact connects the two cases: if the criminal case results in a conviction or guilty plea, that conviction is admissible in your civil case as evidence of the underlying conduct. The BAC result of 0.143, the crash reconstruction in the police affidavit, the witness observations of slurred speech and the smell of alcohol — all of this evidence, already gathered by law enforcement, can be leveraged in the civil case through proper discovery. The civil case does not start from scratch. It starts from a foundation the criminal investigation has already built. Our DUI/DWI practice page explains how these criminal-civil intersections work in more detail.
Who Can Be Held Responsible: The Defendant Map
A drunk driving wrongful death case is rarely just one defendant. The obvious target is the driver — and the driver is the primary tortfeasor, the person whose intoxication and choices directly caused the crash. But the driver may not be the only party with responsibility, and in many cases, the deepest pockets and the fullest coverage belong to someone else entirely.
The driver. The person who operated the vehicle with a BAC of 0.143, failed to stop at a stop sign, and drove at a high rate of speed through an intersection is the primary defendant. The theories of liability against the driver include negligence (breaching the duty of reasonable care by driving intoxicated, speeding, and failing to stop), negligence per se (violating Texas DWI statutes and traffic control device laws), and gross negligence (driving at nearly twice the legal limit through a stop sign, demonstrating conscious indifference to the safety of the passenger and the public). Any criminal conviction or guilty plea in the intoxication manslaughter case would be admissible in the civil action as evidence of the underlying conduct.
The driver’s automobile liability insurer. The driver’s auto insurance policy is the first layer of recovery. In Texas, the legal minimum is $30,000 per person, $60,000 per incident, and $25,000 property damage — but the driver may carry higher limits, and may have an umbrella or excess policy stacked above the primary coverage. Fifteen days in a hospital, ending in death, will exhaust the minimum limits many times over. Once liability becomes reasonably clear — and in this case, with a 0.143 BAC and criminal charges, it is about as clear as it gets — the insurer faces what Texas calls Stowers exposure: a duty to settle within policy limits when given the opportunity, with bad-faith consequences if it refuses and the jury awards more.
The potential dram shop defendant. This is the single most important investigation in the case, and it is the one most threatened by time. Under the Texas Dram Shop Act, a licensed alcohol provider — a bar, restaurant, club, or store — that served an obviously intoxicated person to the point that the person presented a clear danger to themselves or others may share liability for the harm that followed. A BAC of 0.143 at the time of the crash means the driver was visibly, obviously intoxicated at the time of service — slurred speech, impaired balance, bloodshot eyes, the kind of signs any trained server is taught to recognize. The 11:40 p.m. crash time is consistent with late-evening alcohol service. The question is: where was the driver served? Cell phone geolocation, credit card records, and establishment surveillance can answer this — but the evidence is disappearing, day by day, as we write.
The potential vehicle owner. If the 2025 Nissan Versa is owned or leased by someone other than the driver — a family member, a leasing company, an employer — and that owner knew or should have known of the driver’s propensity for intoxication, a negligent entrustment claim may apply. Vehicle ownership must be confirmed through registration and title records early in the investigation.
Each of these defendants represents a different insurance tower, a different theory of liability, and a different path to recovery. Identifying all of them — not just the obvious one — is the difference between a minimum-payout case and one that can actually account for the full measure of what your family lost.
Texas Wrongful Death and Survival Law: What Your Family Can Recover
Texas law provides two separate causes of action after a death like this, and they work together.
The wrongful death action belongs to the surviving family members — the spouse, children, and parents of the person who died. It compensates the family for what they lost when their loved one was taken. The recoverable damages include the loss of the decedent’s future earning capacity (what a 32-year-old would have earned over a working lifetime, projected by a forensic economist), loss of companionship and society, loss of inheritance, and the family’s mental anguish. Texas does not impose statutory damage caps on wrongful death or personal injury awards outside of medical malpractice and government-entity claims, which means a jury in Midland County can award what the evidence supports — not what a cap allows.
The survival action belongs to the decedent’s estate and carries the claim the person would have had if they had survived. In this case, the 15-day period from May 2 to May 17 — the time your loved one spent at Midland Memorial Hospital, fighting for life — is the survival period. The estate can recover medical expenses incurred during those 15 days, the pain and suffering your loved one endured during that time, mental anguish, and funeral and burial expenses. The medical records from those 15 days — nursing notes, medication administration records, vital signs, physician observations — are the evidence of what your loved one went through, and they are powerful evidence in front of a jury.
Before any lawsuit can be filed, the court must appoint a personal representative — the one person Texas law authorizes to bring the estate’s case. We handle that appointment as part of the process. The statute of limitations for wrongful death and survival actions in Texas is generally two years from the date of death — in this case, running from May 17. Two years sounds like a long time. It is not. The dram shop investigation, the EDR download, the expert retention, the discovery process, and the criminal case’s timeline all need to happen within that window, and some of the most critical evidence is already gone. Our car accident practice page covers how we build these timelines in detail.
The Texas Dram Shop Act: Holding the Bar or Restaurant Accountable
Under the Texas Dram Shop Act, a licensed provider who served an obviously intoxicated person to the point of danger may share liability for the harm that followed.
This is the most important paragraph on this page, and we want you to read it twice. The single most impactful thing that can happen in a drunk driving wrongful death case is the identification of the alcohol provider. Here is why.
A driver’s personal auto policy has limits — and in Texas, the legal minimum of $30,000 per person is a fraction of what a wrongful death case is worth. A bar or restaurant that served alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person, by contrast, carries liquor liability coverage that can be many times the driver’s auto limits — and in some cases, an umbrella policy on top of that. The dram shop defendant is often the path to a recovery that actually reflects the value of what was lost.
The legal standard in Texas is specific. The Dram Shop Act (found in the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code, Chapter 2) provides a cause of action against a licensed provider when the provider served an obviously intoxicated person to the point where the person presented a clear danger to themselves or others. “Obviously intoxicated” is not a vague standard — it means visible signs of intoxication that a reasonable server would recognize: slurred speech, unsteady balance, bloodshot eyes, impaired motor control. A person with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.143 — nearly twice the legal limit — would exhibit all of these signs and more. And because alcohol is eliminated from the body over time, the BAC at the time of service was likely even higher than 0.143, meaning the intoxication was even more obvious.
The 11:40 p.m. crash time is consistent with late-evening service at a bar or restaurant. The question the investigation must answer is simple: where was the driver drinking in the hours before the crash? The answer lives in three places, and all three are perishable:
Cell phone geolocation data shows where the phone was during the hours before the crash. This is preserved by the cellular provider, but retention varies — some data is purged in 30 to 90 days. A preservation letter to the provider must go out immediately.
Credit card and debit card records show purchases at bars and restaurants. Point-of-sale data and receipts document the quantity and timing of alcohol purchases. This data may be purged within 30 to 90 days. A preservation demand to the establishment and a subpoena for financial records must follow.
Surveillance footage from the establishment shows the driver’s condition when she was served — whether she was visibly intoxicated, how many drinks were served, and whether the server continued to serve despite obvious signs. Most commercial surveillance systems overwrite their footage within 7 to 30 days. This is the fastest-dying evidence in the entire case. The preservation letter to the establishment must go out within days — not weeks.
The statute of limitations for a dram shop claim is generally two years, but it is tolled — meaning the clock does not start — until the claimant discovers or should have discovered the provider’s involvement. A family that does not yet know where the driver was served has not yet had the clock start running on the dram shop claim. But the evidence is disappearing regardless of when the legal clock starts.
Exemplary Damages: When Drunk Driving Becomes Punishment-Eligible
Texas law allows juries to award exemplary damages — what many people call punitive damages — in cases where the defendant’s conduct goes beyond ordinary negligence and reaches the level of gross negligence. The standard is clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with conscious indifference to the safety of others.
A blood alcohol concentration of 0.143, at high speed, through a stop sign, with a passenger in the car, is not a close call on this question. Driving with nearly twice the legal limit of alcohol in the blood, failing to stop at a stop sign, and accelerating through an intersection at a speed sufficient to become airborne over a drainage pond is the textbook definition of conscious indifference. The driver knew or should have known that her conduct created an extreme degree of risk to her passenger and the public, and she proceeded anyway.
Exemplary damages serve two purposes: they punish the wrongdoer, and they deter others from similar conduct. In an intoxication manslaughter case, a Midland County jury that understands the dangers of drunk driving on Permian Basin roadways is well positioned to understand why exemplary damages are appropriate.
There is one more fact that makes exemplary damages especially powerful in this context: intoxication-related wrongful death judgments are non-dischargeable in bankruptcy under federal law. This means the driver can never wipe out the judgment by filing for bankruptcy protection. The judgment follows the person forever. This provides long-term collection leverage that most civil judgments do not have — and it means that assets the driver acquires in the future, even years from now, can be reached to satisfy the judgment.
The Evidence Clock: What Proof Exists and How Fast It Disappears
This is the section that determines whether your case is strong or irrevocably weakened. Every piece of evidence in a drunk driving wrongful death case is on a clock, and some of those clocks are measured in days.
The vehicle’s Event Data Recorder (EDR). Modern vehicles carry a black box — an Event Data Recorder — that captures critical crash data in the seconds before and during impact. Under federal regulation, the EDR in a 2025 Nissan Versa should record the vehicle’s indicated speed for approximately five seconds before the crash, whether the brakes were applied, the engine throttle position, seatbelt status for the driver and front passenger, airbag deployment timing, and the change in velocity during the rollover. This data would show the exact speed at which the vehicle approached the stop sign, whether the driver ever attempted to brake, and whether the passenger was wearing a seatbelt. It is critical corroborating evidence for both the negligence and gross negligence theories.
But the EDR data is at risk. The vehicle may be in a tow yard, in police impound, or already released to the insurance company. If the vehicle is declared a total loss — which it almost certainly will be after a rollover — it could be salvaged or crushed within weeks. If the airbags did not deploy, the EDR data may be in a non-deployment buffer that can be overwritten by the next qualifying event — even just driving the vehicle. The preservation letter must demand that the vehicle be preserved in its current condition and that no repairs, modifications, salvage, or disposal occur until the EDR data has been downloaded by a qualified expert using the proper equipment.
Surveillance footage from establishments near the crash route and potential alcohol-service locations. This is the fastest-dying evidence in the entire case. Most commercial surveillance systems — the cameras inside and outside bars, restaurants, convenience stores, and liquor stores — overwrite their footage on a rolling cycle of 7 to 30 days. The footage that would show the driver’s condition when she left an establishment, the time of departure, and whether she was visibly intoxicated when served is being written over right now, every day that passes. The preservation letter to any potential establishment must go out within days. Once the footage is overwritten, it is gone forever — and with it, potentially the entire dram shop case.
The driver’s cell phone records and location data. Cell phone geolocation data can place the driver at a specific bar or restaurant in the hours before the crash. This is the road map to the dram shop defendant. But cellular providers retain this data for varying periods — some as short as 30 days, most no more than 90 days for detailed location data. A preservation letter to the provider must be sent immediately, followed by a subpoena.
Bar and restaurant receipts, credit card records, and point-of-sale data. The quantity and timing of alcohol purchases establish the dram shop claim and the provider’s knowledge of the intoxication level. POS systems and receipt data may be purged within 30 to 90 days. A preservation demand must go to the establishment and to the credit card processor.
Toxicology and blood-draw records. The BAC result of 0.143 is already preserved by the Texas Department of Public Safety. The chain of custody for the blood sample, the lab analysis, and the underlying blood evidence are in the government’s possession. This evidence is not at risk of disappearing — but it must be obtained through criminal discovery or civil subpoena promptly.
Midland Memorial Hospital treatment records. The medical records documenting the nature and severity of the passenger’s injuries, the treatment rendered during the 15-day survival period, the pain and suffering documented in nursing notes, and the cause of death are preserved under HIPAA-compliant retention requirements. These records are not at immediate risk, but they should be obtained promptly to avoid any spoliation issues.
Police crash report, affidavit, witness statements, and 911 call recordings. These foundational records are already preserved by the Midland Police Department. They can be obtained through an open records request and civil discovery. The police affidavit, which documents the crash dynamics, the driver’s condition at the hospital, the slurred speech, the smell of alcohol, and the warrantless blood draw, is the backbone of the civil case’s liability evidence.
The driver’s auto insurance policy declarations and umbrella or excess coverage. These documents determine the available coverage limits, the Stowers demand thresholds, and whether exemplary damages are covered or excluded under the policy terms. They are obtained through civil discovery immediately upon filing. The insurer may attempt to position coverage defenses early, which is why insurance coverage discovery must be a first priority.
The Insurance Reality: Where the Money Is — and Where It Isn’t
The hard truth about a drunk driving wrongful death case is that the value of the claim is bounded by what can be collected. A jury can award ten million dollars. If the only defendant has a minimum-limit auto policy and no assets, the family recovers the policy limits and not much more — unless the dram shop defendant is identified and brought into the case.
Here is the insurance ladder, rung by rung:
Texas minimum auto liability coverage is $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 per incident, and $25,000 for property damage. Fifteen days in a hospital ending in death will exhaust the $30,000 per-person limit within the first day of intensive care. This is the floor — not the ceiling.
Higher auto liability limits. Many drivers carry more than the minimum — $100,000 per person, $300,000 per incident, or even $500,000 or $1,000,000 single-limit policies. The driver’s policy declarations, obtained through discovery, will reveal the actual limits. We do not know this driver’s limits yet.
Umbrella or excess liability policies. Some drivers carry a personal umbrella policy stacked above their auto coverage — typically $1,000,000 or more. This is the layer that can transform a case from a minimum-payout to a meaningful recovery. The existence and amount of any umbrella policy must be discovered early.
Dram shop liquor liability coverage. A bar or restaurant that served alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person typically carries liquor liability insurance — and the limits can be far higher than a personal auto policy. Some establishments carry $1,000,000 or more in liquor liability coverage, plus umbrella layers above that. This is why the dram shop investigation is the single most impactful value driver in the case. Identification of an alcohol provider with liquor liability coverage can expand the collectible pool substantially.
The Stowers doctrine. Once policy limits are known and liability is reasonably clear — and with a 0.143 BAC, criminal charges, and a documented failure to stop, liability is as clear as it gets — a formal settlement demand within the policy limits creates a duty for the insurer to act in good faith. If the insurer rejects the demand and the case goes to trial with a result exceeding the policy limits, the insurer may be liable for the full judgment — not just the policy limits. This is the Stowers doctrine, and in a case with liability this strong, it is an extraordinarily powerful tool for forcing the insurer to settle.
Non-dischargeability in bankruptcy. As we discussed in the exemplary damages section, intoxication-related wrongful death judgments cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. This means the judgment is permanent and collectible against the driver’s future assets — indefinitely. This is leverage that most civil judgments do not have.
What This Case Is Worth: An Honest Assessment
We will not tell you a specific dollar figure, because the value of this case depends on facts we do not yet have: the driver’s insurance limits, whether an umbrella policy exists, whether a dram shop defendant can be identified, what the decedent’s occupation and earning trajectory were, and what a Midland County jury would do with the evidence. What we can tell you is the honest range and the factors that drive it.
At the low end, if the driver carries only Texas minimum auto limits and no dram shop defendant is identified, the recovery may be limited to the $30,000 per-person policy limit — a fraction of what this case is worth on the merits. This is the floor, and it is the scenario that the dram shop investigation exists to prevent.
At the high end, if the driver carries higher limits or an umbrella policy, if a dram shop defendant is identified with substantial liquor liability coverage, and if exemplary damages are awarded, the recovery could reach into the seven-figure range — potentially $2,500,000 or more, depending on the decedent’s earning capacity, the strength of the dram shop evidence, and the jury’s assessment of what a 32-year-old’s life was worth.
The decedent’s age — 32 — is a central value driver. A 32-year-old had decades of working life, earning capacity, and contributions to a family ahead of them. A forensic economist projects the lifetime earnings based on age, occupation, education, and earning trajectory — and that projection, reduced to present value, is a substantial component of the wrongful death damages. The 15-day survival period adds a separate survival claim for medical expenses, pain and suffering, and mental anguish during those days at Midland Memorial Hospital.
The primary constraint is collectibility. Liability is exceptionally clear. Damages are catastrophic. The question is not whether the case is strong — it is whether the responsible parties have the insurance or assets to pay what the case is worth. That is why the dram shop investigation, the insurance coverage discovery, and the asset investigation are not peripheral tasks — they are the case.
The Fifteen Days: What Your Loved One Went Through
The survival period — those fifteen days from May 2 to May 17 at Midland Memorial Hospital — is both a legal claim and a human reality. In the law, it is the survival action: the estate’s claim for everything the decedent experienced between the injury and the death. In human terms, it is fifteen days of medical intervention, pain, and a family waiting and hoping.
A rollover crash at high speed produces multi-system trauma. The forces involved when a vehicle becomes airborne and rolls are violent and chaotic — the occupant is subjected to multiple impacts against the vehicle interior, rotational acceleration and deceleration, and potentially ejection or compression forces if the roof structure deforms. Common injuries in a high-speed rollover include traumatic brain injury from head impact or rotational acceleration, spinal cord injury from axial loading or flexion-distraction forces, blunt chest trauma with rib fractures and lung or cardiac contusion, internal organ injury from blunt force (spleen and liver lacerations are common), pelvic and long-bone fractures, and the cumulative cascade of multi-system trauma that can lead to progressive organ failure.
The medical records from those fifteen days will document the full arc: the emergency department admission, the surgical interventions, the ICU course, the medications administered, the vital signs tracked, the complications that arose, and the point at which the medical team determined that the injuries were not survivable. Every nursing note, every physician order, every lab value, and every imaging study tells the story of what your loved one went through — and that story is the survival action.
The defense may try to minimize the survival claim by arguing that the decedent was unconscious or sedated for some or all of the 15 days, reducing the conscious pain and suffering component. The medical records answer this: even a sedated patient in an ICU experiences pain — elevated heart rate, blood pressure spikes, the physiological markers of distress that nurses document in their flow sheets. And the family’s experience of those 15 days — the vigil, the hope, the moment of learning that death was coming — is part of the mental anguish component of the wrongful death claim.
The Insurance Adjuster’s Playbook: What They Will Try
Within days of the crash, the driver’s insurance company opened a file. The adjuster assigned to this case has one job: to resolve the claim for as little money as possible. The adjuster is not your friend, is not working for your family, and is not trying to be fair. The adjuster is a professional whose performance is measured by how little the company pays out. Here are the plays you should expect, and here is how each one is countered. Our video on what you should not say to an insurance adjuster covers this in more detail.
Play 1: The “just checking in” recorded statement call. Someone from the insurance company — sounding warm, concerned, sympathetic — will call a family member and ask to “just get your side of what happened” or “check on how everyone is doing.” The call is recorded. Everything said will be transcribed, taken out of context, and used to undermine the claim. A casual “she seemed fine” or “he was a good driver usually” or “I don’t really know what happened that night” can become a defense exhibit. The counter: do not give a recorded statement to the other side’s insurance company. Not now, not later, not ever. Every communication goes through your lawyer.
Play 2: The fast settlement check with a release. A check may arrive quickly — sometimes within weeks of the crash — with a release document that, once signed, extinguishes the family’s right to pursue any further compensation. The amount will seem substantial in isolation — $30,000, $50,000, even $100,000 — but it is a fraction of what the case is worth, and it is designed to arrive before the family has had time to understand the full value of what was taken, before the dram shop investigation has begun, and before the medical records have been fully reviewed. The counter: do not sign anything from any insurance company without your lawyer reviewing it first. A release signed in grief is just as binding as one signed with full understanding.
Play 3: The comparative fault argument. The defense may argue that the passenger knew or should have known the driver was intoxicated and chose to ride anyway. Texas follows a modified comparative negligence system with a 51% bar — meaning a plaintiff is barred from recovery only if found 51% or more at fault. The passenger’s share of fault, even if the defense can prove some awareness of the driver’s intoxication, is unlikely to approach the 51% bar. But every percentage point the defense can pin on the passenger reduces the recovery, which is exactly why the adjuster works so hard to develop this theory. The counter: the passenger was not the one who chose to drive intoxicated, run a stop sign, and accelerate through an intersection. The passenger did not control the vehicle. The passenger’s alleged awareness of the driver’s condition — even if proven — is a small fraction of the fault, and the law accounts for that.
Play 4: Social media surveillance. The insurance company will monitor the social media accounts of the decedent’s family members, looking for posts that can be taken out of context — a photo at a family gathering, a comment about feeling okay, a vacation picture — and used to argue that the family’s grief is less severe than claimed. The counter: assume everything posted on social media will be seen by the insurance company and presented to a jury. Set accounts to private. Do not post about the crash, the case, the driver, or the legal process. Do not post about activities that could be mischaracterized.
Play 5: The delay aimed at the statute of limitations. The adjuster may be pleasant, responsive, and reassuring — while doing nothing. The goal is to let time pass, let evidence disappear, let the dram shop footage overwrite itself, and let the statute of limitations approach. The counter: the preservation letter and the lawsuit filing are not things that happen “eventually.” They happen in the first weeks. The day you call a lawyer is the day the clock starts working for you instead of against you.
How a Case Like This Is Built: Week One to Resolution
Here is the chronological walk of how a drunk driving wrongful death case is actually built — not in summary, but in the order it happens, by someone who has done it.
Week one. The preservation letters go out — to the tow yard or impound lot holding the vehicle, ordering it preserved in its current condition. To the cellular provider, ordering cell phone records and geolocation data frozen. To every bar and restaurant within the geographic range of the driver’s likely route before the crash, ordering surveillance footage preserved. To the insurance company, ordering the policy declarations and all coverage documents produced. The personal representative appointment process begins — petitioning the court to appoint the person authorized to bring the estate’s case. The open records request for the police report, the affidavit, and the 911 recordings is filed.
Weeks two through four. The EDR download happens. A qualified expert, using the proper crash data retrieval equipment, connects to the vehicle’s Event Data Recorder and downloads the pre-crash speed, brake status, throttle position, seatbelt status, and impact force data. This is done before the vehicle can be released, repaired, or salvaged. The medical records from Midland Memorial Hospital are obtained — the full chart, including emergency department records, operative reports, ICU flow sheets, nursing notes, medication administration records, imaging studies, and the final cause of death determination. Insurance coverage discovery is initiated — identifying all applicable auto, umbrella, and excess policies, and confirming the policy limits and coverage positions.
Months one through three. The dram shop investigation proceeds in parallel. Cell phone geolocation data is analyzed to identify the establishments the driver visited in the hours before the crash. Credit card and debit card records are subpoenaed to identify alcohol purchases. Establishment surveillance footage, if preserved, is reviewed for evidence of the driver’s visible intoxication at the time of service. Expert witnesses are retained: a board-certified accident reconstructionist to analyze the crash dynamics, a forensic toxicologist to explain the level of impairment at 0.143 BAC, and a forensic economist to project the decedent’s lifetime earning capacity. The criminal case is monitored — any conviction or guilty plea is admissible in the civil case.
Months three through six. Deppositions are taken — of the driver, of any establishment employees who served alcohol, of the investigating officers, of the medical providers who treated the decedent. The criminal case may resolve during this period, providing additional leverage. Insurance coverage positions are challenged if the insurer attempts to assert coverage defenses.
Resolution. Once the full insurance picture is known and the dram shop investigation is complete, a Stowers demand is tendered — a formal written offer to settle within the policy limits, creating bad-faith exposure for the insurer if it refuses. In a case with liability this clear, the Stowers demand is an extraordinarily powerful tool. If the case does not settle, mediation is pursued. If mediation fails, the case proceeds to trial in Midland County courts, where a jury of the community’s peers will decide what a 32-year-old’s life was worth and what conscious indifference to human safety should cost.
The First 72 Hours: What to Do, What Not to Do
If you are reading this in the days after a drunk driving death, here is the practical roadmap — what to do, what not to do, and when to call.
Do obtain the medical records. If your loved one is still hospitalized — or if the records have not yet been collected — ensure that the full medical chart from Midland Memorial Hospital is preserved and obtained. These records are the evidence of the survival period.
Do not sign anything from any insurance company. No release, no authorization, no settlement offer, no “just a formality” document. Every piece of paper from an insurance company is designed to limit the company’s exposure. A document signed in the first days after a death — when the family is in shock, grief, and exhaustion — is the insurance company’s best opportunity and your family’s worst.
Do not give a recorded statement. Not to the other driver’s insurance company, not to an “investigator” who calls, not to anyone who is not your lawyer. Every word will be transcribed and used.
Do not post on social media. About the crash, about the driver, about the case, about the legal process. Assume every post will be read by the insurance company and shown to a jury. Set accounts to private. Ask family members to do the same.
Do not wait. The evidence is disappearing. The surveillance footage at the bar where the driver may have been served is overwriting itself, day by day. The vehicle’s EDR data is at risk if the vehicle is released or salvaged. The cell phone geolocation data that could identify the dram shop defendant is on a provider retention schedule that may run out in weeks. The preservation letter that freezes this evidence goes out the day you call — not the day you get around to it.
Do call. The consultation is free. The call is confidential. We work on contingency — we do not get paid unless we win your case. And the first thing we do, the day you call, is start sending the letters that freeze the evidence before it disappears. Call 1-888-ATTY-911. We have live staff, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — not an answering service. We speak English and Spanish.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we sue if the driver is already facing criminal charges?
Yes — and you should. The criminal case and the civil case are completely separate. The criminal court punishes the driver; the civil court compensates your family. A criminal conviction or guilty plea is actually admissible in your civil case as evidence of the underlying conduct, which strengthens your claim. The civil case does not wait for the criminal case to finish. In fact, developing both in parallel is the strongest strategy, because the criminal investigation’s evidence — the BAC result, the crash reconstruction, the witness statements — is available to your civil case through discovery.
How long do we have to file a wrongful death lawsuit in Texas?
The statute of limitations for wrongful death and survival actions in Texas is generally two years from the date of death. In this case, the clock runs from May 17 — the date of death. Two years sounds like a long time, but the dram shop investigation, the evidence preservation, the expert retention, and the discovery process all need to happen within that window. The dram shop statute of limitations has a discovery rule that may toll the clock until the family discovers or should have discovered the alcohol provider’s involvement — but the evidence of that involvement is disappearing regardless of when the legal clock starts.
What if the driver only has minimum insurance?
Texas requires a minimum of $30,000 per person in auto liability coverage. If the driver carries only the minimum and has no umbrella policy, the auto insurance recovery may be limited to that amount — which is a fraction of what a wrongful death case is worth. This is exactly why the dram shop investigation is so critical. A bar or restaurant that served an obviously intoxicated person typically carries liquor liability coverage with far higher limits. Identification of the dram shop defendant can expand the collectible pool substantially. Additionally, intoxication-related judgments are non-dischargeable in bankruptcy, meaning the judgment can be collected against the driver’s future assets indefinitely.
Can the passenger be blamed for getting in the car with a drunk driver?
The defense may try. Texas follows a modified comparative negligence system with a 51% bar — meaning your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, and you are barred entirely only if you are 51% or more at fault. The defense may argue the passenger knew or should have known the driver was intoxicated. Even if this is proven — and it often is not — a passenger’s share of fault in a single-vehicle crash driven by an intoxicated operator is unlikely to approach the 51% bar. The passenger did not control the vehicle. The passenger did not choose to drive drunk. The passenger did not run a stop sign at high speed. Any fault assigned to the passenger is likely to be small, and it reduces — but does not eliminate — the recovery.
What is a dram shop claim and how does it work?
Under the Texas Dram Shop Act, a licensed alcohol provider — a bar, restaurant, club, or store — that serves an obviously intoxicated person to the point where the person presents a clear danger to themselves or others may share liability for the harm that follows. To prove a dram shop claim, you must show that the provider served alcohol to a person who was obviously intoxicated, and that the service was a proximate cause of the injury or death. A BAC of 0.143 at the time of the crash means the person was visibly, obviously intoxicated at the time of service — and because alcohol is eliminated over time, the intoxication at the time of service was likely even more severe. The evidence needed includes cell phone geolocation (to identify where the driver was served), credit card records (to document alcohol purchases), and surveillance footage (to show the driver’s visible condition when served).
How much is a wrongful death case worth when a drunk driver kills someone?
We cannot give you a specific dollar figure without knowing the driver’s insurance limits, whether a dram shop defendant exists, the decedent’s occupation and earning history, and other case-specific facts. What we can tell you is this: liability in this case is exceptionally clear (BAC of 0.143, criminal charges, documented failure to stop, high speed), and the damages are catastrophic (wrongful death of a 32-year-old with a 15-day survival period). These facts would support a substantial verdict in a comparable Midland County wrongful death case. The primary constraint is collectibility — the recovery is bounded by available insurance coverage, the driver’s assets, and any dram shop recovery. The honest range, based on the facts available, runs from the minimum statutory auto policy limits at the low end to a seven-figure recovery at the high end if higher limits, umbrella coverage, exemplary damages, and/or dram shop recovery are available.
What is a Stowers demand and why does it matter?
In Texas, when liability is reasonably clear and the plaintiff offers to settle within the defendant’s policy limits, the insurance company has a duty to act in good faith and accept the demand if a reasonable insurer would. This is the Stowers doctrine. If the insurer rejects a Stowers demand and the case goes to trial with a judgment exceeding the policy limits, the insurer may be liable for the full judgment — not just the policy limits. In a case with liability as clear as this one (BAC of 0.143, criminal charges, documented failure to stop), the Stowers demand is an extraordinarily powerful tool for forcing the insurer to settle within limits. The insurer knows that if it refuses and the jury awards more — which it likely will — the insurer pays the excess.
Does the family have to wait for the criminal case to finish before filing a civil lawsuit?
No. The civil case can and should be filed immediately and developed in parallel with the criminal prosecution. The two cases are separate, with different purposes, different standards of proof, and different remedies. The civil case does not depend on the criminal case’s outcome — though a criminal conviction or guilty plea would strengthen the civil case because it is admissible as evidence of the underlying conduct. Waiting for the criminal case to resolve is dangerous because the evidence the civil case needs — surveillance footage, cell phone data, EDR data — is disappearing on its own timeline, not the criminal court’s timeline.
What should we do right now?
Call. The consultation is free and confidential. We work on contingency — we do not get paid unless we win. The first thing we do is send the preservation letters that freeze the evidence before it disappears. The surveillance footage at the establishment where the driver may have been served is overwriting itself. The vehicle’s black box data is at risk. The cell phone geolocation data that could identify the dram shop defendant is on a provider retention schedule. Every day that passes, evidence dies. Call 1-888-ATTY-911. We answer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We speak English and Spanish. Hablamos Español.
Why Families in the Permian Basin Call Attorney911
We are Attorney911 — The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC. We are a trial firm that takes Texas cases. Our managing partner, Ralph Manginello, has been licensed to practice law in Texas for more than 27 years, admitted to federal court in the Southern District of Texas, a journalist before he was a lawyer, and a competitor who hates losing. Our associate, Lupe Peña, spent years inside a national insurance-defense firm — the rooms where adjusters and their software decided how to deny, delay, and devalue claims exactly like yours. He sat in those rooms. He knows how the other side values a claim, how it sets reserves, how it picks its IME doctors, how it runs surveillance, and how it uses delay as a weapon. Now he uses that knowledge for injured people and grieving families. He is fluent in Spanish and conducts full consultations in Spanish without an interpreter.
We work on contingency. The fee is 33.33% before trial and 40% if the case goes to trial. We do not get paid unless we win your case. The consultation is free. We have live staff 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — not an answering service. Call 1-888-ATTY-911 or contact us. Hablamos Español.
We have recovered more than $50 million for our clients over more than two decades of practice. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. What we can tell you is this: the same training, the same insider knowledge, and the same fight that produced those results is what we bring to every family that calls us — including yours.
The evidence in this case is disappearing. The bar’s surveillance footage is overwriting itself. The vehicle’s black box is at risk. The cell phone data that could identify the dram shop defendant is on a clock. The day you call is the day the preservation letters go out. Every day before that is a day the other side is counting on.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911. Free consultation. No fee unless we win. 24/7. Hablamos Español.