"California juries are fed up with drunk drivers," says Oakland trial lawyer Lew Van Blois. If you drink and drive and cause an accident with injuries, you will not only be forced to pay huge compensatory damages to innocent victims, you may also be socked with punitive damages that will require you to make payments the rest of your life. Punitive damages are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Drunk drivers who cause serious injuries usually are sent to prison.