Comparative Negligence (Comparative Fault)

Category: legal

A legal doctrine that reduces a plaintiff’s financial recovery in an accident lawsuit by the percentage of fault they contributed to the incident.

Under a comparative fault framework (such as Florida’s modified comparative fault rule), the court or jury evaluates the actions of all parties involved in an accident and assigns a fault percentage to each. If a plaintiff is awarded $100,000 in total damages but is found to be 20% responsible for the collision due to speeding, their final recovery check is reduced to $80,000. Under modified rules, if a plaintiff's fault passes a specific threshold (typically 51%), they are completely barred from recovering damages.

Common Examples

• The insurance defense attorney argued for a comparative negligence instruction, claiming the plaintiff's sudden lane change contributed significantly to the impact velocity.
• Our litigation analytics model factors in localized comparative negligence jury trends when evaluating the settlement value of regional commercial truck accidents.