What is comparative negligence?
Under the doctrine of comparative negligence, a party who is partially at fault for his or her own injuries can still recover for those injuries from another party whose negligence also contributed to the injuries. Basically, the fault of every party involved is compared. The amount of compensation awarded to an injured person will be reduced by his or her share, or percentage, of the total fault.
Comparative negligence works on a percentage basis to assign a degree of fault for the injuries sustained. For example, a plaintiff in a products liability case cannot be found more than fifty percent at fault in order to be compensated for their injuries. If a plaintiff is found to be fifty-one percent at fault, he or she will not receive any damages for said injuries. Plaintiffs who are found to be less than fifty-percent at fault, however, are awarded compensation in accordance to their percentage of fault.
Comparative negligence is a legal principle providing that the amount of a person’s negligence in an accident is determined by his contribution to the accident. In Florida, the percentage of the individual’s negligence in the accident is usually subtracted from the amount he would otherwise recover, if the other person were 100% at fault.
