Were You Partially Responsible for Causing Your Own Injuries?

Comparative Negligence in New York

When you’ve been hurt in any type of accident and have filed a lawsuit to recover for your losses, your financial recovery will require that you prove who caused the accident and your injuries. In many instances, though, more than one party may have contributed to the circumstances causing the collision. In fact, it’s not uncommon that a person suffering injuries because of someone else’s carelessness was also careless.

For example, another motorist may fail to completely stop at a light or sign and hit you broadside. However, you may have been speeding at the time. Can the other motorist claim as a defense that the accident would not have occurred if you had been obeying the speed limit? How will that affect your ability to recover full and fair compensation for all your losses?

The New York Comparative Negligence Laws

Until 1975, the state of New York followed the common law principle of contributory negligence. Under this approach, if a person had any responsibility for causing an accident, regardless of how minor or insignificant, that person could not recover for any losses suffered.

Because contributory negligence often produced unfair results, New York adopted a new approach in 1975, substituting the concept of comparative negligence.

How Does Comparative Negligence Work?

With comparative negligence, the court first determines the full extent of a person’s losses. Once that has been done, the jury then determines the extent to which the injured person was responsible for causing his or her own injuries, typically stated as a percentage of liability. The full amount of loss of damages is then reduced by the injured party’s percentage of liability.

For example, if the court determines that the full measure of your losses was $1,000,000, but finds that you were 25% responsible for causing the accident. Your damage award will be reduced by $250,000.

It’s important to understand, too, that New York applies the rule of pure comparative negligence. That means that, as an injured party, you will always receive some compensation, unless the jury finds that you were 100% responsible. Most states that have adopted comparative negligence follow the principle of “modified comparative negligence,” where an injured person typically cannot recover any compensation if he or she was more than 50% responsible for causing the accident.