The short answer is no.

In Nebraska, you usually do not have to sit around waiting for the other driver's DUI case, reckless driving case, or any other criminal charge to be finished before you move forward on your injury claim.

That's the first thing people get wrong after a serious crash.

A criminal case and a civil injury claim are tied to the same wreck, but they are not the same fight. Different rules. Different deadlines. Different goals. The county prosecutor is trying to prove a crime. The insurance company is trying to pay as little as possible. Those two things overlap, but they do not move in lockstep.

If you got hit on I-80 in Omaha, on West Dodge, on Highway 6 in Sarpy County, or out on US-77 where people drift, speed, and make bad decisions in open stretches, the adjuster is not waiting around out of respect for the criminal court calendar. The adjuster is building a file right now.

The DUI charge helps, but not in the magic way people think

If the other driver was arrested for DUI, cited for reckless driving, or charged after a wrong-way crash or a red-light wreck, that is useful.

It can support your argument that the other driver was negligent.

It can also box the defense into some ugly facts they would rather dance around.

But a charge is not the same thing as free money.

A charge is just an accusation at that stage. If the case is still pending, the insurer may act like it means nothing yet. If there is a conviction later, that can become more powerful. Even then, the insurance company may still argue about the stuff that really controls payout:

• whether their driver actually caused all of the crash
• whether you were partly at fault
• whether your treatment was really necessary
• whether your pain is as serious as you say
• whether some of your injuries were "preexisting"

That last one matters a lot for younger drivers because insurers love to say, "You're 19, you bounced back, this should have healed already."

That's garbage in a lot of cases, but they say it anyway.

The police report matters, but it is not the final word

Here's where it gets ugly.

A lot of people think the police report settles everything. It doesn't.

The report is important. The officer's observations matter. If the report says the other driver smelled like alcohol, failed field sobriety tests, blew over the limit, drove the wrong way, or ran a red light, that helps. If there are photos, crash reconstruction notes, body cam, dash cam, or witness names, even better.

But insurance companies do not treat the report like a judge's order.

If the report is incomplete, if the officer got part of the sequence wrong, or if the other driver is now fighting the charge in court, the insurer may use that uncertainty against you. They may say liability is "still under investigation" even when everyone knows damn well what happened.

And in Nebraska, fault matters a lot.

For older causes of action, Nebraska used a modified comparative fault system with a 50% bar. For causes of action accruing on or after August 27, 2025, the bar shifts so a person can recover only if they are not more than 50% at fault. In regular English: if they can pin too much blame on you, your case can crater. That is why police report disputes matter even when the other driver got charged.

So if you were speeding a little, changed lanes badly, or gave a sloppy recorded statement while still dazed, the insurer may try to carve blame onto you to reduce what they owe.

Why the criminal case can slow things down anyway

You do not have to wait for the criminal case.

But parts of the civil side may still move slower because of it.

If the other driver has pending charges, they may refuse to give detailed statements in anything related to the crash. That is not unusual. People facing DUI or assault-by-motor-vehicle type allegations are not eager to talk, because what they say in one case can hurt them in the other.

So you can end up with this annoying situation: the criminal file is not finished, the defense keeps things tight, and the insurer uses the open case as an excuse to stall.

That does not mean your claim is on hold.

It means you keep building it without waiting for them to feel ready.

Medical records. ER notes. Imaging. wage loss if you missed work. Photos of the car. Photos of bruising. Names of witnesses. The 911 call if it exists. Any video from nearby businesses if the crash happened in Omaha, Lincoln, Bellevue, Grand Island, or near an intersection with traffic cameras or storefronts. On rural roads like Highway 2 through the Sandhills or stretches of US-81, that kind of evidence disappears fast because there may be no camera backup and no second chance.

If your health insurance is paying, that does not mean the car insurance issue is solved

A 19-year-old on a parent's health insurance plan usually assumes: okay, my hospital bills are getting paid, so maybe the rest can wait.

Not really.

Your family's health insurance may pay first for treatment, especially if you needed an ambulance ride, ER care, scans, follow-ups, or physical therapy. But that carrier may later want reimbursement from a settlement. So the fact that Blue Cross, UnitedHealthcare, or another plan is covering the bills now does not mean the liability side is done. It just means one bill source stepped in before the fight was over.

Meanwhile Nebraska is an at-fault auto insurance state, and the minimum liability coverage is still low: 25/50/25. That means some seriously injured people run into coverage limits fast, especially after a bad highway crash with multiple people hurt.

So no, you do not wait for the criminal case to finish before dealing with the civil side. If you do, you can lose momentum, lose evidence, and let the insurer shape the story before your records are even complete.

The smart way to think about it

Think of the DUI case as one piece of leverage, not the engine of your whole claim.

If the driver later pleads guilty or gets convicted, that can strengthen your position.

If the charge gets reduced, that does not automatically kill your injury claim.

If the criminal case drags on for months in Douglas County, Lancaster County, Sarpy County, or anywhere else, your medical treatment and your claim evidence still keep moving.

The biggest mistake is assuming the criminal charge means somebody else is taking care of the civil case for you.

They are not.

The prosecutor is not trying to get your chiropractor bills covered. Not trying to fix your totaled car. Not trying to deal with the lien from your parents' health insurance. Not trying to explain why your shoulder still hurts when you lift at work or why you panic when you merge onto I-80 now.

That part is separate.

And the insurance company is counting on you not knowing that.