In a car accident, one of the first and most important things to determine is “who was at fault?”
The plaintiff, or the one filing the lawsuit or making the insurance claim, should first prove that the defendant was at fault or negligent.
But if both parties have a certain level of negligence on their part, it may be hard to determine who was really at fault.
Sometimes, the defendant can even establish a defense to minimize or even avoid any liability.
There are scenarios when both parties contribute to the accident, or they both have an amount of negligence during the event.
It makes it hard to determine which one was at fault. The idea of comparative and contributory negligence can help solve this issue and come up with a way to allocate fault between the parties involved in the accident.
Negligence
First, it would be wise to learn the meaning of negligence in its legal definition.
Negligence is when the conduct of an individual leads to unreasonable harm to other people.
If your negligence leads to another person getting injured, then you should pay for the damages.
Contributory Negligence
Contributory negligence consists of conduct that leads to damage to one’s self.
If the person is not acting reasonably and inflicts damage to himself, that individual may be held responsible, even if another party was involved in an accident.
It means the victim was also injured due to their negligence. One example is when a person crosses a street where crossing is prohibited and was hit by a car.
In this case, the car driver, who can easily be the defendant, can push for a contributory negligence claim.
It will prove that the plaintiff was partially responsible for the accident and the injury they incurred.
If the defendant proves the contributory negligence claim against the plaintiff, then the accident victim may only get partially compensated for the injuries they incurred.
Comparative Negligence
Comparative negligence allocates the faults between the parties involved in the accident, which means the victim was also partially at fault.
In comparative negligence, if it proves that the victim was somehow also at fault, they will be barred from any form of compensation.
Guidelines for comparative negligence vary from state to state.
Generally, two rules are being followed.
One rule is pure comparative negligence, where the victim’s compensation will reflect how much they have contributed to one’s injury.
The other rule is the modified comparative negligence, where the victim can’t get any compensation if they are equally responsible or have a higher degree of fault.
Proving Negligence
How do you prove that the victim was, in fact, negligent? Examples of negligence on the victim’s part include speeding while driving, making sudden movements as a pedestrian, riding with a drunk or reckless driver, interfering with the car driver, and more.
To make sure you get the compensation you deserve, it is always best to consult and hire a lawyer.
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