Can I Still Pursue Compensation if I Was Partially at Fault for My Injuries?

Compensation and Fault

One of the most important parts of a personal injury case is determining which party was at fault. Personal injury claims are often the result of a negligent or careless action and deciding who caused the accident and whether the injured party was also at fault can be complicated.

Different states follow different guidelines for finding which party is at fault and calculating how much money can be recovered. Depending on what standard your state or jurisdiction uses for negligence, you could be barred from recovery. If you were injured in an accident, it is important that you understand the differences in these theories of negligence.

What Is the Difference Between Contributory Negligence and Comparative Negligence?

There are two main ways that a court will assign liability in a personal injury claim: contributory negligence and comparative negligence.

• Contributory negligence is a very strict and dated standard. Under this standard, if you contributed at all to your accident, even if the other party was significantly more at fault, you would not recover anything. This doctrine is often used by defendants as a defense and it can make it very difficult for a plaintiff to receive compensation (damages).
• Comparative negligence is the milder standard. It still evaluates how much you may have contributed to your own injury or accident, but it allows you to recover the portion of damages the defendant was at fault for.

How Would This Work in a Real Case?

A situation where the injured party might have contributed to an accident is a pedestrian injured while crossing a crosswalk. If a car runs a red light and collides with a pedestrian in the crosswalk, but the pedestrian was distracted and looking down at their phone, then arguably some of the fault could be placed on the pedestrian. Their recovery will completely depend on which type of negligence is used.

As an example, assume the pedestrian (the plaintiff) files a personal injury claim against the driver of the car (the defendant). If the court determines that the plaintiff’s injuries were worth 1 million dollars:

• Under either theory of liability, if the defendant caused 100% of the injuries and the plaintiff was not at fault, the plaintiff would potentially be able to receive the full 1 million dollar award.
• Under a contributory negligence standard, if the plaintiff contributed to the injury at all, even just 1%, they would not be able to recover anything.
• Under a comparative negligence standard, if the plaintiff contributed to their injury, as long as they contributed less than the defendant, they would recover the percentage of the injury attributed to the defendant. So if the plaintiff was 10% at fault, they could recover 900 thousand dollars (1 million minus the 100 thousand of damages attributed to their own fault). If the plaintiff was 49% at fault, they would recover 510 thousand (51%), but if they are 50% or more responsible for the injury, they would most likely recover nothing.
  

  What Law Does DC Law Recognize?

  Washington, DC, is one of the few remaining states that still recognizes contributory negligence. The other states that still use contributory negligence are Alabama, Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina. Recently, DC has progressed to a milder form of contributory negligence in certain circumstances. Under this modified contributory negligence standard, called the Motor Vehicle Collision Recovery Act, a person who is injured on a public highway by a vehicle while walking, riding a bike, riding a scooter, or by traveling in any other non-motorized means can still recover as long as they were not the proximate cause of the accident and were not more at fault than the defendant. In the distracted pedestrian example, under this version of modified contributory negligence, the pedestrian should be able to recover as long as they were not more at fault than the driver.

  Contact a Personal Injury Attorney Today

  If you’ve been in an accident and are considering a personal injury action, you should consult with an experienced lawyer. Having a good lawyer is even more important in Washington, DC, because DC uses contributory negligence. A lawyer from Regan Zambri Long, PLLC can discuss your case with you and explain how the contributory or comparative negligence will affect your claim. Call today to schedule a free consultation.