Understanding California’s Pure Comparative Negligence Law
If you get injured in an accident in California, the other party involved may try to blame you for your injuries. In this situation, California uses a legal doctrine known as the pure comparative negligence law to assign fault. This allows injured victims to recover partial compensation for their losses, even if they are found to have contributed to the accident or injury.
What Is California’s Pure Comparative Negligence Doctrine?
In California, each party involved in a personal injury claim can be allocated a portion or percentage of fault for the accident and injury in question. California Civil Code § 1714 states:
“Everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his or her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person, except so far as the latter has, willfully or by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon himself or herself.”
Under this rule, which is known as “comparative negligence,” if a victim is given a percentage of fault, his or her financial recovery will be reduced by an equivalent amount.
How Can the Comparative Negligence Rule Affect a Personal Injury Claim?
Determining liability, meaning legal responsibility, for an accident is not always simple. There are many cases where multiple parties share fault. In these situations, the courts may assign a proportion of fault to each party involved.
If the claimant is given a percentage, this will impact the value of a settlement or judgment award. For example, if a client’s case is worth $100,000 but he or she is assigned 15 percent of the fault, the award would be reduced by a matching 15 percent (or $15,000) to $85,000.
Pure vs. Modified Comparative Negligence Laws
Since California abides by a “pure” comparative negligence law rather than a modified version, an accident victim can be found any percentage at fault (short of 100 percent) and still be eligible for financial compensation. In a modified comparative negligence state, on the other hand, a victim’s ability to receive compensation is capped at a certain degree of fault, typically around one-half or 50 percent.
Can You Disagree With Your Assigned Percentage of Fault?
Percentages of fault are assigned by an insurance provider, judge or jury after a careful investigation of the claim. After a car accident in LA, for example, a car insurance company may send investigators to the scene and analyze submitted evidence to determine which driver was at fault. Then, they will assign a percentage of fault to each party based on this investigation.
If you find out that you are being blamed for your accident and disagree with this conclusion, you can argue your side of the case with help from a personal injury lawyer in LA. You will need to submit clear and compelling evidence supporting your argument. An experienced attorney can help you gather and present this evidence, such as incident reports, eyewitness statements, photographs and videos, and expert testimony. Working with an attorney during your personal injury case in California can help you make a strong argument for the outcome that you deserve. Your lawyer will work to minimize your proportion of fault to maximize your payout. If your case involves the doctrine of comparative negligence, don’t hesitate to contact Rose, Klein & Marias, LLP for a free case discussion with an attorney.