Whether your DUI comes up in your personal injury case depends on when it happened and what it was. A DUI from three years ago, unrelated to the crash, usually does not come in, because it has nothing to do with who caused this accident or how badly you were hurt. A DUI at the time of the crash is a different matter. If you were impaired when the other driver hit you, the insurer will argue you share fault, and in California that reduces your recovery by your percentage. A felony DUI conviction, even an old one, can be raised to challenge your credibility if you testify, subject to the judge’s power to keep it out.
The fact that decides these cases is whether the DUI is connected to the crash. The insurer will ask on the recorded statement and again at deposition whether you have ever been arrested or convicted of anything, and a prior DUI will surface in a background check regardless. What the insurer can do with it is limited by the rules of evidence. What you can do about it is answer truthfully and let the attorney handle admissibility. A client who was rear-ended at a red light on Nordhoff Street in Northridge, sober, with a misdemeanor DUI from 2021, has a case the DUI does not touch. A client who was over the limit at the time of that same rear-end collision still has a case, because the car behind him was supposed to stop, but the insurer will push fault onto him and the number will be lower.
Will a prior DUI be used against me in a personal injury case?
Usually not. A misdemeanor DUI unrelated to the crash is not admissible to prove you were careless this time, and California law generally excludes misdemeanors and arrests from being used to attack a witness’s honesty. A felony conviction can be raised for credibility if you testify, but judges can and often do exclude it when it has little to do with truthfulness and would prejudice a jury. If you were impaired at the time of the crash, it comes in on fault.
How California handles criminal history in a civil case
A civil case is about this crash, and evidence that you did something wrong on another day is generally not allowed to show you probably did something wrong on this one. The insurer cannot argue “he drinks and drives, so he probably caused this.” That is character evidence used to prove conduct, and California excludes it.
The exception is credibility. Under Evidence Code 788, a party who testifies can be asked about a prior felony conviction to attack credibility. A DUI is usually a misdemeanor. It becomes a felony in California with a fourth offense within ten years, a prior felony DUI, or a DUI that caused injury to someone else. A misdemeanor DUI does not fall under this rule and generally cannot be raised at all. A felony DUI can be raised, but the judge weighs whether the conviction says anything about honesty and whether it would unfairly prejudice the jury, and a DUI says little about honesty.
Then there is the crash itself. If you had alcohol or drugs in your system when the collision happened, that is not character evidence. It is evidence of what you were doing at the moment that matters. The insurer will argue that your reaction time, your lane position or your speed contributed to the crash, and under California’s pure comparative negligence rule the jury assigns a percentage. If you are found 40 percent at fault, you recover 60 percent of your damages. You are not barred. A drunk driver stopped at a red light who is hit from behind is still owed a recovery, reduced by whatever share the jury assigns, which in a true rear-end at a stop may be none.
One separate rule matters here. Under Civil Code 3333.4, a person who is convicted of DUI for the same crash cannot recover non-economic damages, meaning pain and suffering, even if the other driver was at fault. Medical bills and lost wages remain recoverable. This applies only to a conviction arising from the crash itself, not a prior DUI.
What the insurance company will do
Expect the recorded statement to include a question about prior arrests and convictions. It is a standard question. Answer it truthfully or, better, decline the recorded statement until you have counsel. Expect the insurer to run a background check regardless of what you say, so a denied DUI becomes a lie, and the lie is admissible even when the DUI was not.
If you were impaired at the time of the crash, expect the insurer to obtain the police report, the blood or breath results and the criminal case file, and to lead with them in every negotiation. Expect it to argue that your injuries are not credible because an impaired person cannot accurately report pain. Expect a low offer that assumes a large share of fault. The answer is the physical evidence of how the crash happened, which does not change based on who was drinking. A car that crosses the center line on Devonshire Street and hits a stopped car is at fault for crossing the center line.
If a lawsuit is filed, expect a motion before trial from both sides about whether the DUI comes in. This is where the question actually gets decided, by a judge, not by the insurer’s assertion.
What to do now
Tell your attorney about any DUI, arrest or conviction at the first meeting. The only version of a DUI that damages a case is the one the attorney learns about from the other side. Do not discuss your criminal history with the insurer. Do not post about the crash. If you were charged with DUI from this crash, the civil and criminal cases affect each other and the attorney needs to coordinate with your criminal defense lawyer on timing and on what you say in each.
Keep treating and keep the medical record clean. The stronger the injury evidence, the less room the insurer has to use anything else.
Common mistakes
Denying the DUI is the one that does real damage. The second is giving a recorded statement that wanders into drinking habits, prescription use or “a couple of beers at dinner” on a night when no test was done. The third is assuming the case is worthless because of a prior record and accepting a low offer. The fourth, for people charged from the same crash, is pleading to the DUI without understanding that the plea triggers Civil Code 3333.4 and eliminates pain and suffering from the civil claim.
Questions people ask next
What if I was the passenger of a drunk driver? Your claim against the driver and against any other at-fault driver is intact. The insurer may argue you share fault for riding with someone you knew was impaired, which reduces but does not eliminate the recovery.
Does a DUI expungement keep it out? An expunged conviction still exists for some purposes, but it strengthens the argument to exclude it, and a misdemeanor DUI was likely excludable anyway.
Will the other driver’s DUI help my case? Yes. If the driver who hit you was impaired, it is strong evidence of fault and can support a claim for punitive damages against the driver personally.
Manoukian Law Firm handles car accident cases throughout the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles County, and Vaheh Manoukian personally handles the evidence questions, including what from your past the other side may and may not use. If you have a DUI in your history and were hurt in a crash, call (818) 818-5031 for a free consultation.
