New York State's Comparative Negligence Doctrine
Comparative negligence is the legal concept that fault can be apportioned in an accident by percentage, much the way a pie might be cut into slices where all of them add up to 100%. If three people are involved in an accident, and a court finds each of them to be equally at fault, that means each one is one-third, or 33.3% liable. That's the basic operation of comparative negligence
Earlier, it was noted that New York State is a PURE comparative negligence jurisdiction. This means that the injured plaintiff has the right to bring legal action in a matter even if they are 99% at fault and the other side is 1% at fault. This may not seem like anything special - it would seem like the way one would expect things to work. But in jurisdictions that follow different comparative negligence doctrines, the rules are harsher for injured plaintiffs.
In jurisdictions which follow the contributory negligence doctrine, the injured plaintiff is barred from bringing legal action even if they were at fault as little as 1%. This legal doctrine is only followed in a handful of states. These states are Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia.
In jurisdictions which follow modified comparative negligence doctrine, the injured plaintiff may not pursue damages if they are 50% or more at fault. There is a variation on this, which bars recovery if the plaintiff is 51% or more at fault.
A few scenarios comparing Contributory Negligence vs. Pure Comparative Negligence vs. Modified Comparative Negligence might illustrate the operation of the these doctrines - demonstrating why New York is a lenient state in this regard.
In jurisdictions which follow the contributory negligence doctrine, the injured plaintiff is barred from bringing legal action even if they were at fault as little as 1%. This legal doctrine is only followed in a handful of states. These states are Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia.
In jurisdictions which follow modified comparative negligence doctrine, the injured plaintiff may not pursue damages if they are 50% or more at fault. There is a variation on this, which bars recovery if the plaintiff is 51% or more at fault.
A few scenarios comparing Contributory Negligence vs. Pure Comparative Negligence vs. Modified Comparative Negligence might illustrate the operation of the these doctrines - demonstrating why New York is a lenient state in this regard.