Sponsored Post- Determining Liability in a Personal Injury Case

Sponsored Post- Determining Liability in a Personal Injury Case

Understanding the term “fault” is very essential in a personal injury case. The word “fault” carries a lot of legal meanings. It refers to a person who was accountable for producing harm-typically by reckless behavior that qualifies as negligence and is obligated to make up for any losses and injuries that resulted from such injury.

A civil jury award against the defendant-the party determined to be at fault in a personal injury lawsuit-may be made in the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars if the case proceeds to trial.

What Happens if There Are Several Parties at Fault?

One of two legal principles applies to shared fault circumstances in personal injury cases:

• Contributory negligence
• Comparative negligence

To settle a personal injury case it’s important to calculate an amount reasonable to your claim proportionate to injuries suffered by you.

Let Us Differentiate Contributory vs. Comparative Negligence

One cannot hold someone else accountable for your injuries if you were a contributing factor in it, according to contributory negligence laws.

If you are even 1% at fault in a pure contributory negligence system, you cannot get any compensation from an individual who is 99% at fault.

If it is determined that you were careless, even slightly, you will not receive any compensation, not even if you sustain hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses. This is a strict, centuries-old law that is still in effect in a few states.

Contributory negligence is not the same as comparative negligence. The degree to which each person is at fault is considered by comparative negligence laws.

Determining the exact portion of each person’s fault is the first stage. Let us take an example where a car accident occurs because one driver ran a red light and the other turned left too quickly. Due to their negligence, both drivers had a part in the accident.

It would be up to the factfinder (jury or judge) to decide how much of each person’s fault there was in the crash.

For instance, it is possible that the driver who ran the red light was mostly to blame, with the other driver’s carelessness having a minor but substantial impact.

It may be determined that the driver who ran the red light was 60% at blame and the driver who turned illegally was 40% at fault.

In such situations, each driver may be entitled to damages in an amount equal to the percentage of blame attributed to the other driver under a pure comparative fault scheme.

Let us say the left-turning driver sustained $100,000 in damages because of the accident. The driver who ran the red light might get 60% or $60,000.

The driver who made the left turn would have to pay the red-light runner $40,000 or 40% of the $100,000 in damages they also incurred.

Differentiating Between Modified and Pure Comparative Faults

A “pure” comparative negligence rule, is applied in some states, as the above example. Certain states have made a broad threshold for the degree of fault in an injured party case. The term “modified comparative fault states” refers to the states that have altered the pure comparative fault regulations to create these thresholds.

States that adhere to the “modified comparative negligence” criteria typically have a 50% cap on the amount.

As long as the wounded party bears less than 50% of the culpability of the accident that results in their injuries, they may be eligible to get compensation under such a limit from everyone who shared the culpability.

In the accident detailed above, the driver who ran the red light was 60% responsible and the driver who turned left was 40% at fault.

Hence, because the driver running the red light was more than 50% at fault, the driver who ran the signal could not sue the turning vehicle for damages, regardless of who was hurt the most.

Out of Court Settlement and Joint responsibility

As discussed so far share fault laws apply in the event when the injury goes to the court. Most personal injury lawsuits are settled out of court, and many of them are settled through insurance procedures.

An insurance adjuster will consider the shared blame laws of the state when determining the amount of a claim and during settlement talks.

This may not matter much if you reside in a state where comparative neglect is the notion. But, the shared blame laws in your state might significantly affect the amount of your injury-related insurance claim in a modified comparative negligence state, and most definitely in the few contributory negligence state.

Negotiation Table: State-wise Negligence Rules