In a personal injury case, the concept of comparative negligence comes into play when both the plaintiff (the injured person) and the defendant (the person accused of causing the injury) contributed to the accident in some way. California is a comparative negligence state, meaning that the amount of damages that the plaintiff can recover will be reduced by their percentage of fault in the accident. How Comparative Negligence Works Let's say that the plaintiff was injured in a car accident and sued the defendant for damages. The court determines that the plaintiff was 30% at fault for the accident because they were driving slightly over the speed limit. The defendant was 70% at fault because they ran a red light. If the plaintiff was seeking $100,000 in damages, their recovery would be reduced by their percentage of fault. In this case, the plaintiff would only be able to recover $70,000 (70% of $100,000). Pure Comparative Negligence vs. Modified Comparative Negligence There are two...
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