50% Modified Comparative Negligence States

Category: legal

The specific states applying a strict equal-fault bar, where a plaintiff can recover damages only if their responsibility remains strictly below 50%.

There are 11 states utilizing the 50% modified bar rule: Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah. Under this statutory threshold, if a jury returns a perfect 50/50 equal split of fault between two drivers, the plaintiff is completely barred from recovering anything. A plaintiff must be 49% or less at fault to secure a reduced payout check.

Common Examples

• In a 50% bar state like Colorado or Georgia, an exactly equal allocation of blame results in an immediate take-nothing judgment for the claimant.
• Our legal underwriting framework applies a strict discount multiplier to lane-change disputes inside Tennessee due to its unforgiving 50% bar cutoff.