An accident can be both tragic and unexpected. No matter the circumstances of such a disaster, you must contend with the consequences that come with a personal injury. This could include obtaining medical treatment, overcoming the loss of a loved one or determining who bears fault for the accident. Personal injury law includes a broad range of incidents, including the following:
Specific aspects of the law are implicated in personal injury cases, meaning that only knowledgeable personal injury attorneys will know how to navigate the legal system to obtain recovery for you. To protect your rights and interests, it is very important that you seek experienced legal counsel immediately after you or a loved one suffers from a personal injury. The topics discussed below provide an overview of some aspects of personal injury law.
Liability for Damages
Most personal injury cases arise from negligence, which effectively involves a failure to use reasonable care. An accident which results in a successful negligence claim involves an action which a reasonably prudent person would not have taken under the same or similar circumstances. Negligence could also result from a failure to act as a reasonably prudent person in the same or similar circumstances. A reasonable person is typically viewed as an average person in the community. If negligence is found in a particular case, the decision maker (either a judge or a jury) will need to apportion liability between the parties, based on one of the following schemes:
Pure contributory negligence
Pure comparative negligence
Modified comparative negligence (50% bar rule)
Modified comparative negligence (51% bar rule)
Every state applies one of these fault apportionment schemes.
Pure contributory negligence generally does not favor the injured party. Under this scheme if the injured party contributed in any way to the accident, he or she cannot recover. Only a handful of states use pure contributory negligence, including Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and the District of Columbia. In comparison, pure comparative negligence allows an injured party to recover, even if he or she contributed in any way to causing the accident. Many states utilize this scheme, including California, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, New York and Washington.
A majority of the states employ a version of the modified comparative negligence scheme. Under this scheme a decision maker will assign percentages of fault to the parties involved in an accident, including the injured party. In a state with a modified comparative negligence with a 50% bar, an injured individual can only recover if he or she is found to be less than 49% at fault for the accident and the recovery is then reduced by the percentage he or she is found at fault. This effectively means that if a plaintiff is found to share half of the responsibility for an accident, he or she cannot recover. Many states use this scheme, including Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas and Utah. In contrast, a state using modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar allows an injured party to recover only if he or she is found to be less than 50% at fault for the accident, and the recovery is then reduced by the percentage he or she is found at fault. This means that even if a plaintiff shares in half or less than half of the responsibility for an accident, he or she can still recover damages. A large number of states use this scheme, including Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
While a liability apportionment scheme exists in some form in every state, most states have various exceptions in place that allow individuals to recover, even if the scheme employed by a state would not normally allow for recovery. You need a knowledgeable attorney who understands the intricacies of a particular state’s fault apportionment scheme and the exceptions available under it, to enable you to recover for your injuries.
Legal Representation for Your Injuries or Loss
If you or a loved one has suffered from a personal injury, please contact the National Justice Coalition for an initial consultation regarding your injuries. Our attorneys will help you navigate your state’s specific laws regarding personal injury liability or wrongful death and help you recover for your loss.
