Rights of drunk driving accident victims in New Hampshire

If a drunk driver hit you in New Hampshire, the state gives you real tools to recover, but a few of them work differently here than almost anywhere else. New Hampshire is an at-fault state, so the impaired driver (and their insurer, if they have one) pays for the harm they caused. The catch is the "if they have one" part.

New Hampshire is unusual: it doesn't require most drivers to carry any auto liability insurance at all.¹ That single fact shapes how you should think about every claim below.

Three years to file, and the clock is real

You generally have three years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit in New Hampshire. That deadline comes from RSA 508:4, the statute covering "all personal actions."² The same three-year limit applies to the property damage side of your claim, so the dent in your car and the surgery on your knee run on the same clock.²

Miss it and the court will almost certainly throw the case out, no matter how clearly the other driver was drunk. If a family member was killed, the estate brings the claim, and you want a lawyer looking at the calendar early rather than late. You can find an attorney who handles New Hampshire crash cases.

How fault affects what you collect

New Hampshire uses modified comparative fault with a 51 percent bar. Under RSA 507:7-d, you can recover as long as your share of the fault is "not greater than" the other driver's, meaning 50 percent or less, and your award is reduced by your own percentage.³ If a jury finds you 20 percent responsible for speeding and the drunk driver 80 percent responsible, you still collect 80 percent of your damages. Cross above 50 percent and you get nothing. Against an impaired driver, the fault math usually tilts sharply in the victim's favor.

Here's the good news on the size of a claim. New Hampshire puts no cap on compensatory damages in an ordinary car crash. There is no ceiling on medical bills, lost wages, or pain and suffering. The state's old $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages was a medical malpractice rule, and the New Hampshire Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional in Carson v. Maurer back in 1980. It was never replaced.⁴

Two limits do exist. Punitive damages, the kind meant purely to punish a defendant, are barred statewide by RSA 507:16 unless a specific statute allows them, and none does for drunk driving.⁵ So you can't add "punitive damages" as a separate line item just because the driver was intoxicated. What you can recover is the full measure of your actual losses.

The drunk driver may have no insurance, and what that means

Because New Hampshire doesn't mandate coverage, the person who hit you might be driving with nothing behind them.¹ When a New Hampshire driver does carry a policy, state law sets the floor at 25/50/25: at least $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage, under RSA 264:20.⁶ Those minimums are thin, and a serious drunk driving injury blows past them quickly.

This is why uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage matters more here than in most states. Every New Hampshire auto policy has to include UM/UIM coverage equal to your own liability limits, unless the named insured rejects it in writing (RSA 264:15).⁷ If the drunk driver has no insurance, or not enough, your own UM/UIM steps in and pays for your injuries. Check your declarations page for that number. It may be the most important figure in your whole claim.

If your car itself was totaled or lost resale value, that is a separate property claim, and New Hampshire's rules on diminished value are worth understanding before you accept a repair check.

Medical payments coverage pays first, no matter who was at fault

Every private passenger auto policy issued or renewed in New Hampshire must include at least $1,000 per person in medical payments coverage, under RSA 264:16.⁸ MedPay covers medical costs you run up within three years of the crash, and it pays regardless of fault, so you don't have to wait for the drunk driver's insurer to accept blame before your bills get handled.⁸

Better still, those benefits are non-subrogable in New Hampshire. RSA 264:17 bars your own insurer from clawing that money back out of your eventual settlement.⁹ Many policies carry MedPay well above the $1,000 minimum, so it's worth reading yours closely.

Suing the bar or business that overserved

New Hampshire lets you go after more than just the driver. Under RSA chapter 507-F, a bar, restaurant, or other alcohol licensee can be liable if it negligently served alcohol to a minor or to someone who was already intoxicated.¹⁰ Service counts as negligent when the server knew, or a reasonably prudent person would have known, that the customer was underage or drunk.¹⁰

There are limits. A business can raise a "responsible business practices" defense by showing it trained its staff and checked identification under real policies (RSA 507-F:6).¹⁰ And chapter 507-F is the exclusive remedy against a server for these claims, so a dram shop case follows this statute and no other.¹⁰ For an innocent third party hurt by the drunk driver, the negligence standard applies. New Hampshire does not cap what a licensee can be made to pay, so this can be a meaningful source of recovery when the driver's own coverage falls short.

When a drunk driving crash is fatal

If someone you love was killed, New Hampshire's wrongful death statute (RSA 556:12) sets out what the estate can recover: the deceased person's physical and mental pain, the reasonable expenses caused by the injury, lost earning capacity over their probable working life, and the value of a life cut short.¹¹ A surviving spouse can also recover for lost comfort, society, and companionship, but that award is capped at $500,000, and a parent or minor child can recover for lost familial relationship, capped at $300,000 per claimant.¹¹ Those two caps are specific to death cases. They don't apply to an injured survivor's own claim.

Practical next steps

Get the police crash report, which anchors the official account of what happened; New Hampshire's process for crash reports is handled separately. Photograph everything and keep your medical records. The driver's criminal DWI case is separate from your civil claim, so a conviction can help, but you don't need one to be compensated. If the numbers are serious, talk to a lawyer well before the three-year deadline.

This article is general information about New Hampshire law, not legal advice. For guidance about your specific situation, consult a licensed New Hampshire attorney.

Sources

1. NH Division of Motor Vehicles, Insurance Requirements / SR-22. https://www.dmv.nh.gov/tickets-accidents-or-restorations/insurance-requirements-sr-22

2. New Hampshire General Court, RSA 508:4 (Personal Actions). https://www.gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LII/508/508-4.htm

3. New Hampshire General Court, RSA 507:7-d (Comparative Fault). https://www.gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LII/507/507-7-d.htm

4. Carson v. Maurer, 120 N.H. 925 (1980), New Hampshire Supreme Court. https://law.justia.com/cases/new-hampshire/supreme-court/1980/80-017-0.html

5. New Hampshire General Court, RSA 507:16 (Punitive Damages). https://www.gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LII/507/507-16.htm

6. New Hampshire General Court, RSA 264:20 (Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility). https://www.gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXI/264/264-20.htm

7. New Hampshire General Court, RSA 264:15 (Uninsured Motorist Coverage). https://www.gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXI/264/264-15.htm

8. New Hampshire General Court, RSA 264:16 (Medical Payments Coverage). https://www.gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXI/264/264-16.htm

9. New Hampshire General Court, RSA 264:17 (Subrogation). https://www.gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXI/264/264-17.htm

10. New Hampshire General Court, RSA Chapter 507-F (Alcoholic Beverage Licensee Liability). https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/lii/507-F/507-F-mrg.htm

11. New Hampshire General Court, RSA 556:12 (Damages for Wrongful Death). https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LVI/556/556-12.htm