Comparative Negligence

New York Personal Injury Lawyers Explaining Comparative Negligence

Most New York personal injury lawsuits do not involve situations where the defendant was completely at fault and the plaintiff was completely without fault.  Generally, New York personal injury lawsuits are the result of complicated situations in which someone has been injured but who was also at least partially at fault.

In these situations, the legal notion of comparative negligence or comparative fault applies.  Below you’ll find a brief description of the New York comparative negligence doctrine, and you’ll likely understand after seeing this analysis why you should seek the help of an experienced New York personal injury lawyer if you or someone you love has been injured.

The Concept of Comparative Negligence

Comparative negligence is a legal concept that was formulated in order to effectively deal with the situations where both parties to a lawsuit are at least partially to blame for the resulting injuries and damages suffered by the plaintiff.  There are different specific types of comparative negligence used in different jurisdictions, but all of them basically involve those who decide personal injury cases – judges and/or juries – to apportion percentages of fault to each party to a personal injury lawsuit and then applying those percentages to the final judgment amount.

New York Comparative Negligence

New York is a jurisdiction that follows what’s known as the ‘pure comparative negligence’ model.  What this means is that there is no limit placed on the amount of fault that can be assigned to a plaintiff that would prevent him or her from recovering damages for the injuries suffered.

Basically, if a plaintiff is injured and files a New York personal injury lawsuit that leads to the conclusion that he or she was 90 percent at fault for the incident in question, he or she would still recover 10 percent of the damages sought.  Therefore, if the plaintiff originally sought $100,000 in damages and was found to be 90 percent at fault, the plaintiff would still recover $10,000 in damages.

Seek the Help of an Experienced New York Personal Injury Lawyer

It should be clear that every New York personal injury lawsuit involves skill, persuasiveness and an intimate knowledge of both New York personal injury law and the rules of evidence.  If you or someone you love has been harmed and you’re concerned about filing a legal action because you may be partially at fault, you still owe it to yourself to analyze your rights.  Contact the New York personal injury lawyers at the law firm of Fitzgerald & Fitzgerald today to schedule a free initial consultation.