Modified Comparative Negligence
What Is Modified Comparative Negligence?
Many personal injury cases involve situations in which the victim is partially to blame for the accident or injury. Under old laws, if you were even partially to blame for your injury, you couldn’t recover any compensation for your losses.
Fortunately, most states have changed that rule so that even if you are partially to blame, you can still receive compensation. However, if you are primarily to blame—that is if you bear more than 50% of the blame—you will be unable to recover monetary compensation for your injuries and other damages in Georgia.
Why Would I Be Partially Responsible for My Injury?
In cases involving injuries, determining who was at fault or negligent can be difficult. Let’s use a car accident as an example. It’s possible that a number of different things all played a role in causing the accident.
Defendants may try to blame you for any reason in order to reduce the amount of damages that they must pay for your losses, no matter how minor. For example, they could indicate that the following factors played a minor role in the accident:
- You were following too closely
- You were speeding
- You did not obey traffic signs
- You put on your turn signal too late
- Your vehicle was poorly maintained
- You had the chance to avoid the accident but didn’t because you weren’t paying attention
- You should have reacted faster
If the other driver can demonstrate that you were partially to blame for the accident for any reason, the amount of damages they must pay will be reduced due to comparative negligence. If they can reduce their percentage of fault sufficiently, you may be barred from receiving damages because you are more than 50% at fault.
What is the Process for Modified Comparative Negligence?
Similar to conventional comparative negligence, this kind of negligence operates similarly. In other words, your percentage of fault lowers the amount of damages you can recover. For instance, if you are found to be 10% at fault for your injury, and your losses total $10,000, the other party will only be responsible for paying $9,000, or 90% of your damages, in order to reflect their share of the blame.
Modified comparative negligence differs from pure comparative negligence only in that if you are found to be more than 50% at fault, you are not entitled to any financial compensation from the other party. Pure comparative negligence schemes are not constrained by this.
Our personal injury attorneys can assist you in determining what percentage of fault may be assigned to you, if any.
If you were involved in an accident that wasn’t your fault, contact The Brown Firm to schedule a free consultation today.
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