Rights of drunk driving accident victims in Wyoming

If a drunk driver hit you in Wyoming, the law is on your side in ways that matter, and some of it is unusually strong here. Wyoming doesn't cap what a jury can award you, it lets you go after punitive damages against the driver, and it gives you a long window to file. Here's what actually applies in Wyoming, with the statutes and the numbers.

You have four years to file

Wyoming's deadline for a personal injury lawsuit is four years from the date of the crash, set by Wyo. Stat. 1-3-105(a)(iv)(C).¹ That's longer than most states allow. The same statute gives you four years for property damage claims, including the damage to your car, under 1-3-105(a)(iv)(B).¹ Four years can feel far off right after a crash, but evidence disappears fast, and the other driver's blood-alcohol records get harder to pull as the months pass. Miss the deadline and a court will almost always dismiss the case no matter how clearly the drunk driver was at fault.

Wyoming does not cap your damages

This is where Wyoming is different. The state constitution forbids the legislature from limiting injury awards at all. Article 10, Section 4(a) says "no law shall be enacted limiting the amount of damages to be recovered for causing the injury or death of any person."² There's no cap on your medical bills, lost wages, or pain and suffering, and no cap on punitive damages either.

People sometimes assume a medical-malpractice-style cap is lurking somewhere. It isn't, for car crashes or for malpractice. The only malpractice-specific provision in the constitution, Section 4(b), lets lawmakers require a medical review panel before you sue a health care provider, and it says nothing about capping dollars.² For a drunk driving claim the rule is simple: whatever a Wyoming jury decides your losses are worth is what stands.

Punitive damages against the drunk driver

Beyond paying your losses, Wyoming lets you ask a jury to punish the driver. In Danculovich v. Brown, the Wyoming Supreme Court held that driving drunk together with other reckless conduct, such as speeding, can amount to "willful and wanton misconduct" that supports punitive (exemplary) damages.³ You have to prove that misconduct by clear and convincing evidence, a higher standard than the rest of your case. When you meet it, the constitution's no-cap rule covers the punitive award too.² Drunk driving is close to the textbook case for punitive damages in Wyoming.

How Wyoming splits fault

Wyoming is an at-fault state that follows modified comparative fault. Under Wyo. Stat. 1-1-109, you can recover as long as your share of the fault is "not more than fifty percent."⁴ Reach 51% and you recover nothing. If you're partly at fault but at or below 50%, your award drops by your percentage. Being 20% at fault on a $100,000 award means you collect $80,000. In a drunk driving case the impaired driver usually carries most of the blame, but expect the insurer to try to shift some onto you, because every point it moves is money it doesn't pay.

When the bar or host who served the driver can be liable

Usually the answer is no, and Wyoming is stricter here than many states. Wyo. Stat. 12-8-301 gives anyone who legally provides alcohol immunity from liability for what the drinker later does while intoxicated.⁵ A bar that served an already-drunk adult generally can't be sued in Wyoming just for over-serving. The immunity has a real exception, though. It's lost when the alcohol was furnished in violation of Title 12, most importantly when it was served to a minor.⁵ So if a bar or a party host served the underage driver who hit you, that provider may share liability with the driver. It's worth finding out who supplied the alcohol.

What insurance covers, and the gaps that hurt victims

Wyoming has no no-fault or PIP system. You pursue the at-fault driver and their insurer, and there's no first-party PIP benefit to file for, because the state doesn't offer one. The trouble is that drunk drivers are often underinsured or uninsured, so the details of your own policy matter.

Every Wyoming driver is supposed to carry at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash for bodily injury, plus $20,000 for property damage, under Wyo. Stat. 31-9-405.⁶ Those are minimums, and they run out quickly against a serious injury.

Two coverages fill the gap, and Wyoming treats them very differently:

• Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage comes with your policy by default. Wyo. Stat. 31-10-101 requires insurers to include it unless you reject it in writing.⁷
• Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage is not required in Wyoming at all, not even as a mandatory offer. It's a purely optional add-on.⁷

That gap catches people. If a drunk driver carrying a $25,000 policy causes $200,000 in harm, UM won't help because he was insured, and without UIM you may have no way to reach the rest. Check your declarations page for both.

Wyoming insurers also offer optional Medical Payments coverage (MedPay), which pays medical and funeral costs regardless of who was at fault. The Wyoming Department of Insurance lists it as an optional coverage, not a required one.⁸ If you bought it, it can cover early bills while the liability claim plays out.

The police report and your evidence

Wyoming crash reports come from the Wyoming Department of Transportation's Highway Safety Program, which charges $3.00 per report plus a $2.50 fee if you pay by card.⁹ The report notes whether the officer suspected impairment and any DUI charge, which matters for both fault and punitive damages. For how to request yours, see our Wyoming crash report guide.

There's one more Wyoming-specific point on evidence. The state bans texting behind the wheel. Wyo. Stat. 31-5-237 makes it illegal to write, send, or read a text on a handheld device while driving, a misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $75.¹⁰ Handheld calls and dialing aren't banned, only text messaging. If the drunk driver was texting too, that's another layer of negligence worth documenting.

Your vehicle

Your car is its own claim, separate from your injuries. Even after a clean repair, a vehicle with a crash on its record is usually worth less on resale, and Wyoming's at-fault system lets you pursue that lost value from the drunk driver's insurer. Our Wyoming diminished value guide walks through how that works.

Getting help

Drunk driving cases tangle together criminal proceedings, punitive damages, and insurers fighting hard over fault, and that's a lot to manage while you're trying to recover. If you want someone in your corner, you can find a Wyoming attorney through our legal directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Wyoming Statutes § 1-3-105 (Limitation of actions; four years for injury and for personal property). https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-1/chapter-3/section-1-3-105/

2. Wyoming Constitution, Article 10, Section 4 (Wyoming Secretary of State). https://sos.wyo.gov/Forms/Publications/WYConstitution.pdf

3. Danculovich v. Brown, 593 P.2d 187 (Wyo. 1979) (CourtListener). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1134542/danculovich-v-brown/

4. Wyoming Statutes § 1-1-109 (Comparative fault). https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-1/chapter-1/section-1-1-109/

5. Wyoming Statutes § 12-8-301 (Immunity for furnishing alcohol; exceptions). https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-12/chapter-8/article-3/section-12-8-301/

6. Wyoming Statutes § 31-9-405 (Minimum motor vehicle liability limits). https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-31/chapter-9/article-4/section-31-9-405/

7. Wyoming Statutes § 31-10-101 (Uninsured motorist coverage required; rejection). https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-31/chapter-10/section-31-10-101/

8. Wyoming Department of Insurance, auto insurance consumer topics. https://doi.wyo.gov/consumers/insurance-topics

9. Wyoming Department of Transportation, Highway Safety, Requesting Crash Reports. https://www.dot.state.wy.us/home/dot_safety/crash-reports/requesting-crash-reports.html

10. Wyoming Statutes § 31-5-237 (Handheld electronic messaging while driving prohibited; penalties). https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-31/chapter-5/article-2/section-31-5-237/