Is it possible for you to sue the other parties involved for your personal injury accident even if you were partially at fault? You can, but it depends on the shared fault rules that your state has!
All states in the United States follow some form of the comparative negligence rule when it comes to establishing fault and determining the resulting settlements. Some states are draconian in this respect and follow the contributory negligence rule. According to this rule, you can’t sue the other party for damages if you are the plaintiff if you were even 1% at fault. Your personal injury lawyer in Halifax knows this.
Most states have contributory negligence rules that will reduce the plaintiff’s final settlement by the percentage of his or her fault up to a certain percentage. For example, suppose you are involved in a car accident but were 10% at fault. Your settlement would have been $1 million. However, because you were 10% at fault, your settlement will be reduced by 10%. You will only get $900,000. You can ask your personal injury lawyer for confirmation.
What is pure comparative negligence?
This rule reduces your final settlement by the percentage of fault that you share in a personal injury accident if you are the plaintiff. For example, if you are 1% at fault and you win a $100,000 settlement, it will be reduced by $1,000. Thus, you will get $99,000 in settlement money.
Note that you don’t have to settle for mediation if one or more parties doesn’t agree to this. The mediator can’t influence the outcome or progress of the case at all. And if neither party likes the progress being made, they can always end the process and take the case to trial. Both you and the defendant will pay for approximately half of the cost (each) for using the mediator’s services.
What is modified comparative negligence?
You’ll get a settlement if you were partially at fault. However, this only applies if your percentage of fault is less than 50%. You will get nothing if your fault was 51%.
Should you use a mediator?
Your personal injury lawyer will tell you that using a mediator can help if there is more than $3,000 difference between what you and the adjuster are agreeing to as a final settlement for you. You and the defendant can’t agree to who was at fault. Or you have run into a wall in terms of negotiating further in your personal injury case.
You need a good personal injury lawyer on your side. As you can see, personal injury law is complex especially in the area of contributory negligence. You need to hire a good personal injury lawyer to help you win your case either in or out of court.
