Everything You Need to Know About Pure and Partial Comparative Negligence
In a court of law, the term “negligence” is defined as the failure of one party to act with a level of reasonable care that someone exercising regular caution would otherwise have. Here’s everything you need to know about pure vs. partial comparative negligence.
When filing a personal injury suit, there are typically two types of comparative negligence: pure and partial comparative negligence. The main difference between pure comparative negligence and partial comparative negligence is how much recovery a plaintiff can recover from damages depending on the percentage of negligence between the plaintiff and the defendant. Pure comparative negligence allows the plaintiff to recover, even if their negligence is greater than the defendants. Partial comparative negligence bars the plaintiff from recovering damages if their negligence is found to be greater than the defendants.
Pure Comparative Negligence
In the states that acknowledge pure comparative negligence, the plaintiff is able to recover damages no matter if they are found to be more at fault. The amount of recovery is determined by the percentage of negligence. For example, if the plaintiff is suing for $10,000 worth of damages and is found to be 80% negligent while the defendant is only 20% negligent, the plaintiff is able to recover 20% of the damages—$2,000.
Related: Contributory VS Comparative Negligence: The Difference
Partial Comparative Negligence
Partial comparative negligence does not allow plaintiffs to recover damages if they are found to be more negligent than the defendant. In these cases, if the plaintiff is suing for $10,000 worth of damages and is found to be 30% negligent while the defendant is 70% negligent, the plaintiff can then recover 70% of the damages incurred—$7,000.
50/50
In cases where the plaintiff and the defendant are found to be equal in negligence, some states and jurisdictions will allow the plaintiff to recover 50% of the damages. But in the states that do not fall under this view, the plaintiff would not recover any amount of damages.
Multiple Defendants
Cases with multiple defendants that can be found liable for negligence typically follow the partial comparative negligence view in which the plaintiff’s negligence has to be lower than any of the defendant’s. An example of this is if there are two defendants and they are each found 40% negligent and the plaintiff is found 20% negligent, the plaintiff is able to recover 40% of damages from each defendant—80% total. However, if the plaintiff is found to be 40% negligent and each of the defendants is found 30% negligent, the plaintiff would not recover anything.
Related: What Is Comparative Negligence?
However, there are some states that will combine the defendant’s percentage of negligence. Under this view, if the combined total of the defendant’s negligence is greater than the plaintiff’s then the plaintiff is able to recover the combined percentage of damages. Taking the example from above, if the plaintiff is found to be 40% negligent and each of the defendants is found 30% negligent, the aggregated percentage of negligence of the defendants is 60%. Because the defendant’s negligence is more than the plaintiff’s, the plaintiff is able to recover 60% of the damages.
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