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.