Blog Post

Family gets a $3 Million Hospital Bill after DUI Accident


April 04, 2008
Topic: Drunk Driving Accidents

If there ever was a case in favor making the alcohol industry liable in some way for the injuries caused when irresponsible drivers choose to drive drunk, the Hubers would be a perfect example. A comfortably middle class Tucson, Arizona family has exhausted their savings, and their household income is half of what it used to be thanks to a drunk driver. Their son, Chris, still struggles with an amputated leg, so his father, Vernon, had to quit his job to take care of him.

And all because of a drunken driver, who has managed to change life for the worse for this family.

On April 1st last year, 21-year-old Chris was walking with his brother Chad near Chad's apartment complex, when a car driven by a drunken driver came racing down the road and mowed him down. Without warning, the driver drove straight into Chris. He was thrown into the windshield, over the top of the vehicle and then snagged on the rear of the still moving car. The driver raced on ahead in his drunken daze, not even realizing he had hit anyone. When Chad turned around to look for Chris, his brother was hanging off a speeding car. Luckly, someone managed to flag the car down. By the time Chris touched the ground, he had broken both his legs and had a pelvic fracture. His legs were hanging by shreds of skin, and he had survived an almost fatal fracture to his spine. He was rushed to the hospital where his mother, Linda, says he had at least 20 surgeries in the first few weeks. A staph infection in his right leg meant one of the worst words a 21-year-old could possibly hear - amputation. If left as it was, the infection threatened to spread to his intestines and stomach. The bill for the first year after his crash? $3 million.

The driver of the car that hit Chris was given 10 days in lock up. He didn't have liability insurance. Chris had no health insurance. The family was on their own for the medical bills, and they were piling up. In the midst of this, Linda and Vernon have managed to get Chris slowly back to some semblance of his life. There is plenty of rehabilitation to go through, but at least he's alive.

The driver of the car is currently cooperating in a lawsuit against the bar where he had been drinking before he mowed Chris down. He was so drunk, apparently, that the bartender and waiters had to shake him awake. They filled him with enough alcohol for him to nearly pass out unconscious, and then sent him off on his way. Where was their sense of responsibility? How difficult would it have been to realize that a man so drunk he was almost passed out on the counter was going to be a grave danger to himself and to others on the road?

It's too late for Chris to have his heath back, but for the sake of other drivers on the road, let's hope the bar gets cleaned out and shut down.

If you have been injured by a drunk driver, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury lawyer. Contact an attorney at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.


The California personal injury attorneys at The Reeves Law Group represent victims of accidents, injuries and wrongful death throughout California from our offices in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Ventura County, Fresno County, Kern County, Sacramento County, San Fernando Valley, Long Beach, Antelope Valley, Torrance, Glendale, Bakersfield, Santa Ana, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Ontario, and Victorville.