In car accident matters, it is sometimes not clear who is at fault and who should pay compensation to whom. Even if it is very clear who is responsible for the accident, your car accident lawyer will advise you that there are instances when as a consequence of what is known as contributory negligence on your part, your rights to compensation may be reduced and your risk of liability may be increased.
The concept of contributory negligence recognizes that while one party may be primarily responsible for a car accident that happens, whether as a consequence of his negligence or recklessness, the parties who are victims in such a car accident may also have contributed to the outcome by a variety of means. The impact of establishing contributory negligence on the part of the other parties will mean that the original perpetrator's liability for the car accident may be reduced and your car accident lawyer will be able to guide you about the details of this.
An accident lawyer will usually advise you that contributory negligence in car accidents include things like non-functional tail lights, tail-gating, carelessness or recklessness on the part of the victim, and even not wearing seatbelts or crash helmets which may cause greater injury than would have been sustained if they had been worn.
When the courts evaluate the impact of contributory negligence, once it is confirmed that there is contributory negligence arising as a result of a specific issue, then the question becomes one of degree. The courts will contemplate this based on percentages for example, if the victim was not wearing a seatbelt, what percentage of this impacted on the injuries that were sustained. Contributory negligence percentages vary according to the facts of each individual case and are not cast in stone. It can be as low as 5 percent and as high as 100 percent!
At the end of the day, if the courts conclude that there is contributory negligence and they define the percentage, then your compensation as a victim will be reduced by that calculated percentage. This means that the courts reduce the percentage of liability that the main party who caused the accident will be responsible for and transfer that degree of liability to you.
While this is fairly common, what is uncertain is the degree of contributory negligence that may arise, and it is best to speak to your car accident lawyer in some details if you believe that this issue may be relevant to your car accident claim.
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