Contributory Negligence

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Contributory Negligence 

It is a Negligence which is not the main cause of the tort, but which combined with the act or omission of another person resulting in causing a damage. Under this negligence, if  a person got injured in part due to his/her own negligence (his/her negligence contributed to the act) the party who got injured would not be in a position to collect any damages (money) from the party who caused the accident.

For Example –

  • a pedestrian who is crossing a road negligently, is hit by  a driver who was driving negligently. Now since the pedestrian has also contributed to the accident, he/she may be barred from recovery of damages from the driver.
  • Similarly, a plaintiff activley disregards warnings or does not take reasonable steps for his/her safety, such as diving in deep water without checking the dept of the water first, amounts to contributory negligence.