It’s a common thing to be partly at fault for your own injuries. But that doesn’t necessarily strip you of your right to hold the other partially at-fault party accountable through a personal injury claim.
Key Takeaways
- Yes, you may be eligible for a personal injury claim even while partly at fault, depending on your state laws.
- Many states use comparative negligence law, where your claim is reduced by your level of fault.
- If you are 30% at fault, your total personal injury claim reduces by 30%.
- In no-fault states, you can make a personal injury claim to your own car insurance provider, regardless of which driver was at fault.
- How fault is measured varies across states and jurisdictions.
Understanding Comparative Negligence
Comparative negligence is a legal principle under which damages awarded to personal injury victims are reduced according to their percentage of fault.
For example, if a victim is supposed to be awarded $100,000 but they were found to be 30% at fault for the accident, their claim is reduced by 30%. So they’d receive $70,000.
How much fault you are judged to hold hangs largely on how well your attorney proves your position.
Comparative negligence does not apply in every state. Also, the rules vary across different states.
1. Pure Comparative Negligence
Under this rule, you can recover damages even if you are 99% at fault. As long as the other party bears some negligence, you are entitled to receive compensation commensurate to their degree of fault.
2. Modified Comparative Negligence
In states with modified comparative negligence, you may only file a personal injury claim if your degree of fault is not greater than a certain threshold. That threshold is 50% in some states. In others, it is 51%. That is, if you are found to be more than 51% at fault for the accident, you hold the greater liability, hence are not entitled to a claim.
3. Pure Contributory Negligence
In Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., you are completely barred from seeking compensation if you are partly at fault for your injuries, no matter how small.
Table Showing States with Comparative Negligence
Pure comparative negligence | modified comparative negligence 50% | modified comparative 51%
| Pure Comparative Negligence | Modified Comparative — 50% Bar | Modified Comparative — 51% Bar | Pure Contributory Negligence |
| Alaska | Arkansas | Connecticut | Alabama |
| Arizona | Colorado | Delaware | Maryland |
| California | Georgia | Hawaii | North Carolina |
| Florida | Idaho | Illinois | Virginia |
| Kentucky | Kansas | Indiana | Washington D.C. |
| Louisiana | Maine | Iowa | |
| Mississippi | Nebraska | Massachusetts | |
| Missouri | North Dakota | Michigan | |
| New Mexico | Tennessee | Minnesota | |
| New York | Utah | Montana | |
| Rhode Island | West Virginia | Nevada | |
| South Dakota | Wisconsin | New Hampshire | |
| Washington | New Jersey | ||
| Ohio | |||
| Oklahoma | |||
| Oregon | |||
| Pennsylvania | |||
| South Carolina | |||
| Texas | |||
| Vermont | |||
| Wyoming |
In at-fault states, victims file a claim with the at-fault party’s insurance provider.
How Claims are Handled in No-Fault States
12 US states have no-fault car insurance laws, meaning car crash victims can receive a payout from their own car insurance provider, regardless of who’s at fault.
These states include Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Utah.
Note that when it comes to personal injury claims, the no-fault law applies only to car accidents. Every driver is mandated to add Personal Injury Protection (PIP) to their car insurance policy in no-fault states. PIP is also available to buy in many at-fault states.
What Happens If Your Insurance Payout is Insufficient
In the event your insurance payout is insufficient to cover your losses, especially in serious cases, you may file a claim with the other driver’s insurer. If they deny your claim or offer a low settlement, you have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit against the driver.
If you’ve been severely injured, be it in a car crash, slip and fall accident, or medical malpractice, it’s advisable to seek legal counsel from a Marietta, GA personal injury attorney. They’ll be able to evaluate the nuances of your case to determine whether there’s valid grounds for filing a claim based on your local laws.
Also, it’s common for insurance companies to try to save costs by offering unreasonably low settlements. But when you approach them with legal backing, they are kept in check.
How to Prove Fault in Personal Injury
Depending on the state where your personal injury occurred, you may be required to prove fault, i.e., the other party’s negligence, before your claim is approved.
Here are the 4 key elements you must prove in personal injury:
- Duty of care – that the defendant had a duty to act in a reasonable way to not cause you harm.
- Breach of duty of care – that they failed to perform that duty.
- Injury – that you sustained injuries.
- Causation – that the injuries resulted directly from their breach of duty.
In simple terms, you must prove that the at-fault party acted in a certain way that put you in harm’s way, leading to your injuries.
If you were partly at fault, you may still be eligible. For example, suppose a car rammed into you from behind as you slowed down to make a right turn. The defendant may claim that you failed to turn on your indicator lights, which is why they rear-ended you.
They make a fair point.
But if you could prove that the accident would not have occurred if they had not tailgated at an unreasonably high speed, you may be entitled to compensation. By tailgating you at a high speed, they put you in harm’s way. That is, they breached their duty of care.
Proving fault is rarely black and white. Be ready for the defendant to push back. To protect your best interests, it’s worth having a skilled injury lawyer representing you.
