Rights of Drunk Driving Accident Victims in Rhode Island

A plain-language guide to what Rhode Island statutes actually give victims of drunk driving crashes, from the three-year deadline and punitive damages to dram shop claims and underinsured motorist coverage.

ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial
Jul 20, 2026
6 min read

Getting hit by a drunk driver is not an ordinary crash. Someone made a choice to drive impaired, and Rhode Island law gives you rights that go beyond what you would have after a routine collision. Several of those rights come with deadlines that started the day you were hurt. Here is what actually applies in Rhode Island, with the statute behind each rule.

You have three years, and the clock is already running

A personal injury claim in Rhode Island has to be filed within three years of the crash. The deadline is set by R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-14(b), which states that "actions for injuries to the person shall be commenced and sued within three (3) years next after the cause of action shall accrue, and not after."1 Blow past it and the court can dismiss your case regardless of how obvious the drunk driver's fault was.

If you also intend to go after the bar or restaurant that served the driver, that claim runs on its own three-year deadline under the Liquor Liability Act at § 3-14-11.2 Both clocks are short for a serious injury, because months disappear while you are still treating.

The criminal DUI case is separate from your claim

When police charge the driver under Rhode Island's DUI statute, § 31-27-2, which makes it unlawful to drive at a blood alcohol concentration of .08% or higher,3 the state prosecutes that crime. You are a witness in it, not a party. A conviction can help establish fault in your civil case, and the criminal court can order the driver to pay restitution, but restitution is usually a fraction of what a real injury costs. Your compensation for medical bills, lost income, and pain comes from a civil claim that you file and control on your own.

What you can recover, including punitive damages

Rhode Island places no cap on compensatory damages in an ordinary claim against a private driver. You can pursue the full value of your medical bills, future care, lost earnings, and pain and suffering with no statutory ceiling.

Punitive damages are where drunk driving cases stand apart. Rhode Island sets a demanding bar. The state Supreme Court in Palmisano v. Toth, quoting the older Sherman v. McDermott decision, requires "evidence of such willfulness, recklessness or wickedness, on the part of the party at fault, as amount[s] to criminality."4 Choosing to get behind the wheel drunk is frequently the kind of conduct that meets it. Punitive damages punish and deter, and they are awarded on top of your compensatory recovery.

Suing the bar, restaurant, or host that overserved the driver

Rhode Island's Liquor Liability Act lets an injured victim reach past the driver to the business that poured the drinks. The Act splits that liability into two levels, and the difference decides how much you can collect.

Negligent service, under § 3-14-6, covers serving a visibly intoxicated person or a minor when the server knew, or a reasonable person would have known, the customer's condition or age.5

Reckless service, under § 3-14-7, is more serious. It applies when a server intentionally serves someone known to be drunk or underage while "consciously disregard[ing] an obvious and substantial risk." The statute gives examples: actively encouraging an intoxicated customer to drink heavily, or service so continuous and excessive that it creates a substantial risk of death by alcohol poisoning.6

That line matters for your recovery. Under § 3-14-8, punitive damages can be awarded for reckless service but are barred entirely for negligent service.7 A dram shop claim carries the same three-year deadline as your claim against the driver.2

Your own share of fault does not end your claim

Maybe you were speeding, or the report suggests you could have braked sooner. In Rhode Island that does not wipe out your case. The state follows pure comparative negligence under § 9-20-4, which says a plaintiff's own negligence "shall not bar a recovery," and instead reduces damages "in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to the person injured."8 If a jury finds you 20% at fault on a $200,000 verdict, you still collect $160,000. Unlike states that cut off recovery once you cross 50%, Rhode Island lets you recover even when you were mostly at fault.

When the drunk driver has no insurance, or not enough

A driver willing to get behind the wheel drunk is often the same driver carrying no insurance or the bare state minimum. Rhode Island requires only 25/50/25 in liability coverage, meaning $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage, with a $75,000 combined single limit as an alternative.9 A hospital stay can exhaust $25,000 in a day.

This is where your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage becomes the thing that actually pays. Under § 27-7-2.1, Rhode Island auto policies must include UM/UIM bodily injury coverage by default in an amount equal to your own liability limits, and the statute's definition of an uninsured motorist expressly includes an underinsured one.10 If the drunk driver's policy runs dry before your bills do, your UIM coverage can fill the gap. Pull your own declarations page early and read the limits.

If a government vehicle or driver was involved

If the at-fault drunk driver was a state or municipal employee on the job, a damages cap comes into play. R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-31-2 limits recovery against the state and its subdivisions to $100,000, though that ceiling does not apply when the government was acting in a proprietary function.11 These claims also carry strict notice deadlines, so flag them to a lawyer quickly.

Documenting the crash and finding help

You will want the official crash report for your file. The process for pulling one in Rhode Island is covered on our Rhode Island crash reports page. If your vehicle was wrecked but repairable, its resale value has likely dropped even after a clean repair, which is a separate diminished value claim in Rhode Island worth pursuing alongside your injury case. When you are ready to talk with an attorney, our legal directory can connect you with one.

The risk is real here. RIDOT reports that 37% of Rhode Island's 2024 traffic fatalities involved a driver at .08% BAC or higher, above the roughly 30% national share, and that 84% of those impaired drivers were at .15% or more, nearly double the legal limit.12 IIHS counted 52 motor vehicle crash deaths in the state in 2024.13 Behind those numbers are victims with the same rights described above.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

  1. R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-14 (Limitation of actions for words spoken and injuries to the person), Rhode Island General Assembly. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/title9/9-1/9-1-14.htm

  2. R.I. Gen. Laws § 3-14-11 (Liquor Liability Act, statute of limitations), Rhode Island General Assembly. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE3/3-14/3-14-11.htm

  3. R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-27-2 (Driving under influence of liquor or drugs), Rhode Island General Assembly. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE31/31-27/31-27-2.htm

  4. Palmisano v. Toth, 624 A.2d 314 (R.I. 1993), quoting Sherman v. McDermott, 114 R.I. 107, 329 A.2d 195 (1974). https://law.justia.com/cases/rhode-island/supreme-court/1993/624-a-2d-314.html

  5. R.I. Gen. Laws § 3-14-6 (Negligent service of liquor), Rhode Island General Assembly. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE3/3-14/3-14-6.htm

  6. R.I. Gen. Laws § 3-14-7 (Reckless service of liquor), Rhode Island General Assembly. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE3/3-14/3-14-7.htm

  7. R.I. Gen. Laws § 3-14-8 (Damages), Rhode Island General Assembly. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE3/3-14/3-14-8.htm

  8. R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-20-4 (Comparative negligence), Rhode Island General Assembly. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE9/9-20/9-20-4.HTM

  9. R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-47-2 (Motor Vehicle Reparations Act, required minimum coverage), Rhode Island General Assembly. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE31/31-47/31-47-2.HTM

  10. R.I. Gen. Laws § 27-7-2.1 (Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage), Rhode Island General Assembly. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE27/27-7/27-7-2.1.HTM

  11. R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-31-2 (Limitation of damages against the state), Rhode Island General Assembly. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE9/9-31/9-31-2.htm

  12. Impaired Driving, Rhode Island Department of Transportation Office on Highway Safety. https://www.dot.ri.gov/safety/impaired_safety.php

  13. Fatality Facts, State by State, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/state-by-state

About This Guide

Written by: ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial

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