Since payment of damages is the responsibility of the person who was at fault during an accident, it is important to determine whether the injured party too was at fault, even partially.
In that case, depending upon the fault the damages to be paid have to be distributed between both parties.
Almost every accident is an example of Negligence and negligence probably the most difficult to claim in personal injuries.
Negligence is of two types – Comparative and Contributory.
In case of contributory negligence, if the injured party has even a slight fault in the accident, it is not entitled to receive any damages for its losses or injuries.
Read more about contributory negligence here
In comparative negligence, the injured party can receive some amount in damages even if it was at fault to some extent. There are different types of comparative fault- Pure; 51% fault; and 50% fault. Pure fault reduces the recovery amount by the percentage of fault. An injured party with more than 51% and 50% fault cannot get any compensation.
Read more about comparative negligence here
Compensation
In order to get the compensation an injured party entitled to, it is essential to clearly determine which party was at fault and to what extent. In case where other party’s fault can be established, the injured party will get full amount in damages.
A skilled and knowledgeable lawyer will be helpful to determine the fault and calculate damages.
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