When an accident such as a car collision occurs, the injured party may be entitled to compensation. This is determined by who is at fault for the accident. In legal terms, fault / negligence is determined when one or more parties were harmed due to failure by another party(ies) to prevent injury or loss through reasonable care. In a Delray Beach personal injury case, it’s important to understand what comparative negligence means if you’ve suffered harm at the fault of someone else, especially if the accident wasn’t solely their fault and you could be partly liable.
What Is Comparative Negligence in a Delray Beach Personal Injury Case Exactly?
Comparative negligence has a substantial impact on how much compensation you receive and means that compared to the defendant in your case, or the person who is at fault for your accident, you were also partly to blame.
Defendants often argue comparative negligence in a personal injury lawsuit to reduce the amount they owe you, since you were partly at fault. Whatever percentage you were at fault is how much your award will be reduced.
In many states, if your fault exceeds the defendant’s fault, you will not receive any compensation for your injuries. However, in the state of Florida, we have “pure” comparative negligence, which means that you will be awarded compensation even if you were 80% to blame.
What Is Contributory Negligence?
Contributory negligence means that if you were 80% to blame and the defendant was only 20% to blame, the amount you receive will only be 20% of the total compensation that would be awarded should you not have had any fault at all.
This is because the defendant only has to pay relative to the percentage for which they were to blame. It compares the degree to which each party is negligent for fairer compensation.
How Do I Know if I Have a Personal Injury Case and Find Out if I’m Negligent?
If you thought you shouldn’t make a claim for your injuries just because you were partly responsible, now you know that the other party still needs to pay for their negligence. To find out your percentage of negligence and how much compensation you may be entitled to, call Steinberg Law today at 1-877-STEIN11 for your free case review!
Not only does it not cost anything for your consultation, but we don’t get paid unless you do. Your Delray Beach personal injury has already cost you financially, physically, and emotionally. Let us handle your case without adding to your burden, so you can focus on your wellbeing!
