El Paso, TX – Just after 6:00 a.m. Tuesday morning, Araceli Solis, 45, Gilbert Solis, 18, and a 15-year-old boy, were injured in a suspected DUI accident on Doniphan Rd., in El Paso, TX.
According to sources, Ms. Solis was driving her 1995 Honda Civic south on Doniphan Rd. At the intersection with Artcraft Rd., a 2008 GMC pick-up did not yield the right of way when the driver, Jimmy Villanueva, 34, attempted to turn left. When the two cars collided Ms. Solis, Mr. Solis, and the unidentified boy all suffered serious injuries. They were taken to local hospitals and their current condition is unknown. Mr. Villanueva and a 14-year-old boy in his truck sustained minor injuries and were treated at a nearby hospital.
The investigation into the accident led authorities to believe that Mr. Villanueva was intoxicated at the time of the accident and he has since been arrested and charged with 3 counts of intoxication assault. At least one news source is reporting that Mr. Villanueva was arrested for DWI offenses in 1998, 2012, 2013.
Map of the Accident Intersection
Commentary:
If what is being alleged against this man is true, I’m just as appalled as the rest of you that this man has a driver’s license. I would caution that we don’t know whether Mr. Villanueva was convicted or merely arrested with regards to his three prior drunk driving offenses. If he was convicted it is outrageous that he had a fourth chance to endanger people on our roads.
Stepping back from this case, folks like the victims in this crash are the reason that Texas Dram Shop Laws exist. Being injured by a drunk driver has the potential to cost you hundreds of thousand of dollars in medical bills, lost wages, and even permanent disabilities. In Texas, drivers are required to have a mere $30,000 of liability protection. That does not go far when one person is injured, let alone a whole family.
Now in a case like this, where a man is intoxicated at 6 a.m., if we’re dealing with alcohol, there’s a good chance he woke up intoxicated. If that man were getting his drinks at a bar, he at least had 4 hours between last call and 6 a.m. In such a scenario, a bar would have over-served someone by enough that they were still intoxicated 4 hours later. Bars and restaurants are only liable under Dram Shop Law if they serve someone who is obviously physically intoxicated and a danger to his self or others. If you’re intoxicate 4 hours later, I’m pretty sure you’re were an obvious danger at last call.
If you remember those medical bills, lost wages, and disabilities I was talking about earlier, you remember that’s potentially hundreds of thousand of dollars of damages. I know some people have an issue with Dram Shop Laws, but by my math, the drunk had his good time, the bar or restaurant made their money, and some poor family taking children to school potentially has their lives turned upside down. In states without Dram Shop Laws, that’s exactly what happens.
In Texas things are different. If a bar made money by knowingly over-serving someone, they contributed to the accident and can be held liable financially. I’m as big into individual rights as anyone, but nobody has a right to get drunk and grievously injure someone. We all agree on that. It just strains belief to think that a bar has no responsibility when allow someone to get so drunk, they not only drive home drunk, but go out drunk driving the next morning and hurt an honest mother who is trying to get her children to school. You can be on the bars’ side if you like, but I’ll gladly stand on the side of the mothers and Texas law.
–Grossman Law Offices
