Quentin Brogdon is a personal injury trial lawyer in Dallas, Texas. Courtesy Photo Texas Supreme Court Lets Drunk Drivers Take the Fifth After Drinking a Fifth
"Although the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination is not absolute, the Texas Supreme Court found it trumps the discovery needs of civil litigants, even if the privilege effectively bars a civil action from proceeding forward," according to Quentin Brogdon of Crain Brogdon.
October 25, 2024 at 10:00 AM
7 minute read
In In re Taylor Brock Peters this year, the Texas Supreme Court considered the tension between the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the discovery needs of litigants in civil lawsuits. In Peters, a civil dram shop case filed by an injured motorist who was severely injured in a crash involving a drunk driver, the court allowed the drunk driver to invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid providing the names of the bars that served him alcohol in response to discovery from the injured motorist. The court found the Fifth Amendment trumps discovery needs in civil cases, even if assertion of the privilege effectively bars a civil action from proceeding forward.
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