Maryland Senate passes drunk driving bill

The Maryland Senate voted and unanimously passed Bill 605.

Which would allow drunk driving accident victims to seek punitive damages from those found guilty of driving while intoxicated.

Punitive damages describes the funds which are awarded on top of the necessary payments for the losses and is intended to punish the faulty party.

According to Senator Jamie Raskin, who introduced the bill, victims can only seek this type of punishment if the guilty party has a blood alcohol content of .15 or higher and was found to be acting with malice at the time of the accident.

Under the bill the punitive damages would reportedly not be awarded in the place of compensatory damages.

This bill goes before the house judiciary committee on April 1st.