Part at fault will affect car accident settlement amount?

Answer:

If you are partly at fault for your car accident, it will most definitely affect your final car accident settlement. There are several ways that the affect will be calculated, and it is all dependent on the laws of the state where you file your claim. A few states still maintain a pure contributory negligence strategy. In Alabama, the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia, if you are even 1% at fault in the accident, you will not be able to collect any settlement at all. Once you have shown that the other driver was negligent, he or she will have the opportunity to prove that you shared the fault. If the other party is successful, you will be out of luck.

Most states have realized that pure contributory negligence is inherently unfair and have decided on one of two comparative negligence policies. Pure comparative negligence is the most flexible strategy and is available in some states. This strategy affects the settlement depending on the amount of your fault. If your award is $10,000 and the court has determined that you were 80% at fault, you will collect only $2,000. If you are 10% at fault, you would be entitled to $9,000.

Most states have developed a modified comparative negligence strategy. For this, if you are less than 50% at fault, you will be able to recover damages, but if you are more than 50% at fault, you will collect nothing. Some states have determined that the cut off will be 51%, meaning that you must be at least 51% at fault to be unable to collect any damages. In comparative negligence states, the burden of proof will be the same as in contributory negligence states. You must first prove that the other driver was negligent; then, the burden will shift to the other driver to show that you were at least 50/51% at fault. Under these comparative negligence strategies, if you are 40% at fault, you will collect 60% of the total award. If you were 51% at fault, you will collect nothing. An experienced personal injury attorney in your state will be knowledgeable of the strategies used. These cases can be complex and the advice and assistance of an experienced attorney will be very important.