The use of alcohol causes many injuries every day, but there are also scenarios in which someone has consumed alcohol and been injured — but doesn't feel as though the injury was related to drinking. If you decide to pursue legal action against a negligent party after your injury, the topic of alcohol will certainly come up. This topic can prove to be challenging, as your attorney will need to argue that the alcohol in your system didn't contribute to your accident. You can still win a personal injury case after you've been drinking, but the settlement that you accept could be slightly less than if you'd had no alcohol in your system. Here are some injury cases that alcohol can complicate.

Slip And Falls

Slip and fall injuries are a common part of personal injury law, with people taking legal action after falling and sustaining injuries. Regardless of where you fell and hurt yourself — a restaurant, a home improvement store, or a neighbor's front walkway — alcohol in your system can complicate matters. The defendant's legal team is apt to say that your consumption of alcohol not only made you unsteady on your feet but that you also missed the obstacle on which you tripped — something that wouldn't happen to a sober person. Your attorney will need to successfully argue that the slip and fall would've occurred regardless of your blood alcohol level.

Pedestrian Accidents

Car accidents involving pedestrians are often cut and dry, but things can get a little murkier when the pedestrian has alcohol in their system. If you were hit by a car after you'd been drinking, you can expect to answer questions about how you might have been conducting yourself if you'd been sober. For example, the defendant's attorneys may question why you were walking along the edge of the road, rather than up on the sidewalk. You and your attorney will need to have clever points to answer for yourself — for example, you needed to walk on the road because the sidewalk was closed.

Work Accidents

Work accidents can also be challenging because, in general, you shouldn't have any alcohol in your system when you're on the job. Regardless of whether you drank or not, your personal injury attorney will try to successfully argue that your company's negligence was to blame for the situation — not the alcohol that you had in your system. For example, if you fell off a defective ladder after a lunch at which you had a beer, your attorney will argue that the defective nature of the ladder would have caused you to fall even if you hadn't had a drink.

For more information, contact a personal injury attorney.