Comparative Negligence: Personal Injury Cases

Apr 22, 2019

The law of personal injury is complex in New York. Some lawyers hold themselves out as personal injury attorneys, but they only dabble in a few cases. At the Levitksy Law Firm, our Brighton Beach personal injury lawyers are involved in accident cases every day.

Nearly all personal injury cases involve the law of negligence and the breach of a duty to use due care and caution. Sometimes, a person might be 100% negligent like in a rear-end collision when one car slams into the rear of another car that was stopped at a stop light. At other times, a Brooklyn personal injury lawyer will recognize that a percentage of negligence might be attributable to the injury claimant like in in many intersection accidents. In those types of cases, the percentage of negligence that is determined to be attributable to the claimant is deducted from any gross award. For example, if a claimant is determined to be 22% at fault for an accident, a $100,000 award would be reduced to $78,000. That’s known as the law of comparative negligence.

In most states, if a claimant is determined to be 50 or 51 percent at fault for an accident, the law doesn’t allow him or her to recover anything. Those are known as modified comparative negligence states. New York is known as a pure comparative negligence state. Even if a claimant is more than 51% at fault for an accident, he or she can still pursue compensation for damages.

In efforts to save money, insurance companies will raise comparative negligence whenever they can. You might still obtain compensation for your damages by retaining our Brighton Beach personal injury attorneys. Upon being injured in an accident, contact a personal injury lawyer in Brooklyn from our offices for a free consultation. Our objective is to maximize your compensation.