The principle of contributory fault is how personal injury law adjusts to situations in which more than one party to an accident is partly at fault. This might be the case in a car accident, a slip and fall accident in an icy grocery store parking lot, or even a wrongful death claim. Different states handle this problem in different ways–contributory negligence, pure comparative negligence, slight/gross negligence, and modified comparative negligence.
Contributory Negligence
Contributory negligence applies in Alabama, the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia. It is a harsh rule that strongly favors defendants. Under contributory negligence, the defendant wins if you were even 1% at fault for the accident that injured you.
Pure Comparative Negligence
Under pure comparative negligence, a court will assign each party a percentage of fault. Each party, then, will lose whatever percentage of their damages that equals their percentage of fault. If you are 1% responsible, you will lose 1% of your damages. If you are 85% responsible, you will lose 85% of your damages. You will also have to pay the same percentage of the other party’s damages.
California, New York, and Kentucky are examples of states that apply pure comparative negligence.
Slight/Gross Negligence
Under the slight/gross negligence standard, you cannot receive any compensation unless your negligence was no more than “slight” and the defendant’s behavior amounted to gross negligence. South Dakota is the only state that applies this rule.
Modified Comparative Negligence
Most states apply one of the two forms of modified comparative negligence. Modified comparative negligence differs from pure comparative negligence because it applies a limit of responsibility, beyond which you forfeit all of your damages (please see below).
Modified Comparative Negligence With a 50% Bar
Under modified comparative negligence with a 50% bar, you forfeit all compensation if your percentage of fault reaches 50% or higher. If both parties are 50% at fault, neither party pays the other anything.
Modified Comparative Negligence With a 51% Bar
Modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar is the same as modified comparative negligence with a 50% bar, except the state applies a 51% bar instead of a 50% bar. Texas is an example of such a state.
Examples
Following are some hypothetical examples of shared fault scenarios.
1% Fault
You slip and fall on an escalator in a department store. The escalator malfunctioned, but you were talking on your smartphone at the time of the accident. At 1% fault, in North Carolina, you would recover nothing, but in Georgia, you would recover 99%.
20% Fault
Your car was sideswiped by someone driving in the middle of the road at night without headlights. You had alcohol in your system, although it was considerably below the legal limit.
You would receive 80% of your damages in any state, including Georgia, except a contributory negligence state.
50% Fault
You were driving the wrong way down a one-way street while the other driver was driving without headlights at night. Both of you are equally responsible for the accident. In Georgia, neither party would pay the other. In Texas, each party would pay half of the other party’s damages.
51% Fault
You slipped on a wet floor at a restaurant while visibly intoxicated. The restaurant had just mopped the floor but had not erected a warning sign. If you were 51% at fault, you would receive no damages in Georgia. In California, you would have received 49% of your damages.
99% Fault
You had a car accident while driving 30 mph over the speed limit at night. The other driver was driving two mph over the speed limit. In Georgia, you would receive zero compensation. In New York, you would receive 1% compensation.
Remember that these are just hypothetical examples; different courts might look at the same facts in different ways. Where one court sees 20% fault, for example, another court might see 50% fault. This is one of the reasons it’s so important to hire a good lawyer.
The Burden of Proof
If your case goes to trial, the party that filed the lawsuit and is asking for compensation bears the burden of proof. In a personal injury case, you must normally prove your claim on a ‘preponderance of the evidence’ (more likely than not) basis.
A Personal Injury Lawyer Can Make a Critical Difference
What’s the difference between 15% responsibility and 25% responsibility? Potentially, a lot, depending on the size of your claim. What’s the difference between 45% responsibility and 55% responsibility? Everything, at least in Georgia. That’s why you need an experienced Columbus, GA, personal injury lawyer to help you fight, even down to the last 10%.
One critical advantage to hiring a personal injury lawyer is that almost all of them work on a contingency fee. That means you pay no legal fees unless you win. Call (706) 940-4030 today or contact us online for a free initial consultation with our experienced attorneys at Mark Casto Personal Injury Law Firm.
