What is Comparative or Contributory Negligence?
Historically, if two people were involved in an accident and the injured party was even the slightest bit at fault, he or she would not be entitled to recover anything for his/her injuries or losses. This way of determining damages is known in legal circles as pure contributory negligence. For example, John and Lewis were involved in an accident. John hit Lewi’s car while making a left turn onto a 2-lane street at night. John didn’t see Lewi’s car because even though it was night time (and a dark one at that), Lewis was not driving with his headlights on. Under a pure contributory negligence theory, Lewis could not recover damages for his injuries because he was partially at fault for the accident. Sound pretty harsh? Actually, some states still follow this rule (Alabama, District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia). But most states now use some proportional form of comparative negligence that allows an injured party to recover some damages for his or her injuries, even
