Can I Recover Compensation if I’m Partially to Blame for My Car Accident?
California law is very plaintiff-friendly regarding fault in lawsuits to obtain compensation in accident cases. In California, no matter what degree you’re at fault for an accident, you may seek compensation, though the greater your fault, the lower your recovery. The approach California law takes is called pure comparative negligence.
Whether you feel you’re at fault for the accident or not, Orange County personal injury lawyer Aaron Hicks helps people like you who are suffering injuries caused by vehicle accidents. Call 949-541-9944 or complete our online contact form to learn more about your rights and what you should do next.
What is Negligence?
Negligence is a legal theory allowing recovery for a victim who suffers due to another party’s mistake (but not just any error, they must be caused by negligence). Insurance policies carried by individuals, companies, and government entities generally cover negligence claims.
Proving a negligence case involves establishing that the defendant (the party sued) had a duty of care, breached that duty, and caused you harm due to that breach. You (the plaintiff, the one filing the lawsuit) have the burden of showing it’s more likely than not the defendant committed negligent acts (or failures to act):
- Duty of care: Because of your relationship, you must establish the defendant owed you a duty of care. You shared the road, so they need to drive reasonably safely, or they operated a business that invited you to visit them, so they need to take steps to ensure your time there is safe
- Breach of duty: The evidence shows the defendant didn’t live up to their legal obligations and breached their duty of care. They drove while intoxicated, or the business owner failed to take steps to protect you from reasonably foreseeable criminal acts on their property
- Causation: The defendant’s acts, or failures to act, are the factual and legal (or proximate) causes of the accident and resulting injuries. Your case may require input from experts to show that factual causation and medical evidence can establish the connection to your injuries
- Damages: Without having damages (harm that’s valued in dollars), you have no case. It could be pain, suffering, anxiety, and mental anguish. It includes past and reasonably expected future costs of treatment, rehabilitation, lost wages, and benefits
Although you can pursue a personal injury case against someone who intentionally, not negligently, harmed you, that’s not covered by insurance. Any recovery would come from the defendant.
What is Comparative Negligence?
Comparative negligence is a legal principle employed in personal injury cases to assess each party’s level of responsibility for the accident or injury. It recognizes that accidents often involve multiple parties who share varying degrees of responsibility.
It also reduces a plaintiff’s recovery to reflect their degree of fault. If it’s determined you’re 40% at fault for a car accident, and all the damages you could recover add up to $100,000, that recovery would be reduced by 40%, so you would end up with $60,000.
Twelve states, including California, have pure comparative negligence laws. This is one of the two main comparative negligence types. The other is modified comparative negligence (of which there are two variations):
- Pure comparative negligence allows you to recover compensation no matter how much you’re at fault
- Modified comparative negligence laws require you to be less than, or no more than, half to blame to file a legal action
Thirty-three states have modified comparative negligence laws. Four states, plus the District of Columbia, don’t allow recoveries if the plaintiff is at fault to any degree. South Dakota provides for recoveries if the defendant committed something more than slight negligence.
How Will This Affect My Case?
Pure comparative negligence laws impact how cases are handled:
- Compared to other states, it allows more people to file and collect claims for their injuries
- It encourages counter-claims. If you can be compensated no matter your degree of fault, they’re likely to return the favor if you file a claim with the other driver’s insurance or sue them. Even if the other party is 90% at fault, obtaining 10% of their damages from your insurance carrier is better than nothing
- Cases may get bogged down in determining who is how much at fault, especially when there are multiple plaintiffs and defendants. Depending on the facts, this can become a battle of accident reconstruction experts, with each side estimating who’s more to blame
- This complexity and unpredictability encourage complicated cases to settle because the parties are unsure of who a jury might blame the most and how much compensation they’ll award those involved
Given all these issues, if you’re injured in an accident, you’re best served by having Aaron Hicks protect your rights and ability to collect the most compensation possible.
Aaron Hicks is an Orange County Personal Injury Attorney You Can Trust
If another party injures you or a loved one, Aaron Hicks at the Hicks Law Firm will assist you in any way we can. We help clients with personal injury claims throughout Southern California and Orange County, including Costa Mesa, Irvine, Tustin, Newport Beach, and Huntington Beach.
We have assisted many injured plaintiffs in Orange County over the years and look forward to helping you, too. Call 949-541-9944 or fill out our online contact form so we may discuss your case.
Aaron Hicks is a civil trial attorney and founder of Hicks Law Firm, based in Orange County with offices in San Diego and Tennessee. His practice includes representing plaintiffs in personal injury cases including motor vehicle accidents, premises liability, dog bites and wrongful death. Mr. Hicks is and AV Rated attorney, Super Lawyer and is currently on the Board of Directors of the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association where he serves as 1st Vice President.
