WEBVTT

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Being in an accident is tough enough,

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but depending on which state the accident takes place,

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can determine how much money you can recover

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from another driver or another insurance company.

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In this video,

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I'm going to talk about negligence

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and the difference between comparative and contributory negligence.

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Before we get started,

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I want to invite you all to subscribe to the channel

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to stay informed and learn more about your insurance policies.

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So, to start,

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what is negligence?

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Negligence basically means your actions caused harm

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or a loss to another individual.

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For example,

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if you rear end another driver,

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you are 100% negligent for that accident

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and your negligence would be that you were not paying enough attention to the road

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and keeping enough distance between you and the driver that was in front of you.

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Now there are two types of negligence,

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comparative negligence and contributory negligence.

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Comparative negligence

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looks at the drivers involved in an accident

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and asks the question,

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did one driver's actions cause the accident

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more than the other drivers?

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For example,

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if two vehicles are backing out of a parking space

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and they back into each other

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and the damages to the back bumpers of each of the vehicles

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under the law of comparative negligence,

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both drivers would share the responsibility and recover

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50% of the damages from the other driver.

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This

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is an example of pure comparative negligence,

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and each driver can recover money from the other party

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in the amount in which they are not at fault.

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So, with this same example,

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let's say that driver 1's damages came to be $800

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and driver 2's damages came to be $600.

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Since both drivers are 50% liable for the accident,

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driver 1 can recover $400 for their damages.

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And driver 2 can recover $300 for their damages.

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Now,

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comparative negligence laws also have what they like to call modifiers,

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and the modifiers can vary depending on the state that you live in.

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The modifiers will restrict how much money you can recover from another driver

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or the insurance company,

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depending on your percentage of fault for the accident.

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Each state

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that adheres to the modified comparative negligence laws

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follow either the 50% bar rule

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or the 51% bar rule.

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12 states follow the 50% bar rule,

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meaning a damaged party cannot recover if it is 50% more at fault.

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But if it is 49% or less at fault,

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it can recover for its damages.

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21 states follow the 51% bar rule

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under which a damaged party cannot recover if it is 51% or more at fault.

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Now under the 50% bar rule,

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if a driver is 49% or less at fault,

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they can recover their damages,

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but

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how much they can recover is reduced by how much they are at fault for the accident.

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The same thing goes for the 51% bar rule.

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If a driver is found to be 50% or less at fault for an accident,

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they can also recover,

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but the amount that they can recover from the other driver

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is also reduced by the amount that they are at fault for the accident.

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So, for example,

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if driver 1 and driver 2 were involved in another accident

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and driver 1 is 70% at fault for the damages

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and driver 2 is 30% at fault,

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let's say if driver 1's damages came out to be $1000

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and driver 2's damages came out to be $300.

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Let's also say that this accident took place in Colorado.

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One of the states that follows the 50% bar rule.

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Given that driver 1 is 70% at fault for the accident,

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they will not be able to recover any of their damages from driver 2.

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But since driver 2 is only 30% at fault for the accident,

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they can recover 70% of their damages from driver 1.

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Now let's take the same accident underneath the 50% bar rule

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and say that both drivers were 50% at fault for the accident.

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Underneath the 50% bar rule,

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neither driver will be able to recover from one another.

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But under the 51% bar rule,

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both drivers will be able to recover 50% of their damages.

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Most states follow comparative negligence laws,

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but they differ between pure and modified comparative negligence.

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The chart and the video will show which states follow which particular laws.

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This chart here is a good reference guide

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to which states follow either pure or modified

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comparative negligence laws.

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Now let's go to contributory negligence.

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Contributory negligence

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looks at drivers that are involved in an accident and ask the question,

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did each driver contribute to the accident taking place?

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If a driver contributed to the accident taking place,

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then they cannot recover any money from the other party.

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So, for example,

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if two vehicles are backing out of a parking space

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and they back into one another

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under the law of contributory negligence,

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both drivers share the responsibility

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and cannot recover their damages from the other driver.

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In this example,

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both drivers would be at least 1% at fault

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and under contributory negligence laws,

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neither driver can recover from the other party.

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Only the District of Columbia and 4 other

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states practice in pure contributory negligence laws,

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and they are Alabama,

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Maryland,

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Virginia,

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and North Carolina.

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So, this has been the basics of negligence

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and the difference between comparative negligence and contributory negligence.

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If you found the video informative,

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share it with a friend,

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subscribe to the channel,

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and thank you for allowing The Insurance Quotient to keep you informed.