If you’ve been hurt as the result of somebody else’s negligence, any good personal injury lawyer will tell you that you should take action in order to recoup some of your recovery costs and make up for your pain and suffering. After all, if somebody else causes you harm, be it intentionally or by complete accident, then legally you deserve to be compensated accordingly. On the other hand, what happens if you get hurt as the result of somebody else’s negligence coupled with a bit of your own? It’s a tricky situation the legal ramifications of which vary from state to state, but in some places, if you’re found to be partially to blame for your own injuries, then you could end up with no monetary reward.
Robert Dewey of the Dewey Law Firm is a Charlotte, North Carolina personal injury lawyer with more than 30 years of experience under his belt, and according to him, North Carolina has some fairly rigid guidelines for awarding compensation to personal injury victims. North Carolina is actually one of the few states in the country that enforces the concept of “contributory negligence.” Contributory negligence is a term used to describe a scenario in which an injured person has partially caused or contributed to his own injuries.
Let’s take a situation where a person decides to cross the street despite the fact that he doesn’t have a green light. If that person ends up getting hit by a car because the driver doesn’t see him, then it isn’t inconceivable to have a jury find that he did actively contribute to his own injuries. After all, the poor (though perhaps foolish) pedestrian in question did choose to cross the street when he should have been waiting his turn. And while perhaps the driver should have been paying extra attention, if the driver was following traffic signals accordingly, then it’s easy to see how he may have missed a person crossing out of nowhere. In this type of situation, the concept of contributory negligence can easily come into play if the state in question enforces it.
What does contributory negligence mean in terms of an actual potential settlement? In places like North Carolina, if a person is found to have partially caused his own injuries, then he is precluded from receiving any sort of compensation despite the fact that he might not have been totally to blame.
If this notion seems unfair to you, you’re not alone. Many states have done away with the notion of contributory negligence in favor of a more flexible approach known as “comparative negligence.” Comparative negligence means that if two people’s actions cause one person to get injured, then both parties are responsible financially, and the extent to which the non-injured party must pay for his mistakes will depend on the percentage of blame assigned.
What does this mean? Let’s take our earlier scenario with the pedestrian crossing the street despite the fact that he didn’t have a green light. A jury might evaluate the facts of the case and determine that while the pedestrian was clearly 50% to blame for his injuries, the driver should have been paying closer attention and was therefore also 50% to blame. In states that operate under comparative negligence laws, the total recovery for the victim would be adjusted to account for the fact that the blame must be equally shared. Therefore, if damages are determined to be valid in the amount of $20,000, then the pedestrian would only get $10,000, as he has to legally share 50% of the blame and burden.
Contributory negligence, on the other hand, is not nearly as kind to accident victims who contribute in some way to their injury-related outcomes. If a person in North Carolina is found to have been 1% negligent in causing his own injuries, then he will end up walking away with nothing in the way of compensation despite the fact that the other negligent party was mostly to blame for what happened.
If you’re injured in a state like North Carolina that still upholds contributory negligence, then it’s imperative to find an experienced lawyer who can argue your case on your behalf. Remember, if you’re looking to come away with any sort of compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and physical suffering, then your attorney is going to have to prove that you in no way caused your own injuries. It may not seem fair for the legal structure to be that rigid, but the law is the law.
This article is for informational purposes only. You should not rely on this article as a legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances, and you should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. Neither publication of this article nor your receipt of this article create an attorney-client relationship.
