Understanding Comparative Negligence and How It Affects Your Personal Injury Claim

If you get into an accident that causes you physical harm, your head is probably spinning. Depending on the severity of the accident and the injuries incurred, your state of mind is probably somewhere between a daze and a total disconnect. Maybe you end up waking up a day or two later, anxious and sore and not sure what to expect next. Perhaps you need to see a doctor. Personal injury accident injuries can easily sneak up on you – in car accidents, for example, adrenaline from the crash may obscure potentially long-lasting injuries so that you don’t feel the extent of your injuries (or how much they may end up costing you in medical bills and lost work) until hours or days after the accident. 

To make things even more complicated, assuming that the other driver is solely at-fault is not always the way to go. Insurance companies and courts in Rhode Island play by a comparative negligence system when establishing how much each driver is required to ante up. 

What To Know About Comparative Negligence and Your Personal Injury Claim

As Rhode Island and Delaware are both comparative negligence states, it is essential for anybody who is thinking about filing a personal injury claim to have a basic understanding of how this concept works. Here are the basics of comparative negligence and what you should understand:

What Is Comparative Negligence?

Comparative negligence in terms of a personal injury accident refers to the fact that fault may rest on more than a single party. For example, even though a vehicle rear-ended you, you may still be partially at fault because you pulled out without checking both ways first or changed lanes suddenly without signaling. This means that you have contributed to the accident in some way and the court may not rule entirely in your favor.

How Might Comparative Fault Apply To Me?

If you file a claim with your insurance company in a state with comparative fault, an insurance evaluate all aspects of the case and then allocate the amount of negligence each person is responsible for depending on the driver’s role in the accident. This means that if any other contributing factor – such as intoxication or distracted driving – was involved, they will be accounted for no matter WHO the driver is. So if you T-bone another person’s car, but that driver was drunk, then they may still be found to be partially at fault for the accident. While there is a chance of the adjuster dividing the fault equally, there is typically some measure of comparative negligence placed on even the plaintiff here in Rhode Island. This may amount to 1 percent in certain situations, meaning that a plaintiff often ends up recovering only 99 percent of his or her damages from the defendant. 

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How does this impact you? If you get into an accident, it’s important to remember that even if you’re the one who suffered most of the damage, both the adjuster and the court may end up finding you partially at fault, so you will not get a hundred percent of the money paid out for damages. This makes it even more imperative to speak to an attorney when you get into an auto accident. Call Tapalian Law to consult with an experienced Rhode Island personal injury attorney today.