• 24
  • May
    2010

If someone in North Carolina gets into a truck, motorcycle, car or any other type of accident resulting in personal injury, they will likely become familiar with the term contributory negligence.

According to FindLaw, contributory negligence bars you from recovering money for your injuries if your own negligence in any way contributed to the accident's occurrence. The other driver must prove that you were negligent.

Most states do not use contributory negligence in their legal systems. In fact, only North Carolina, Alabama, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. use some form of that legal standard. The rest of the United States uses a standard called comparative negligence. That approach means that the court assigns a percentage of blame to the parties in court and awards damages based on the division of blame.

In the past, contributory negligence was not uncommon throughout the country. But after many cases resulted unfairly, with few personal injury victims getting compensated appropriately, the majority of the U.S. adopted the more flexible and fair comparative negligence standard.

And North Carolina might be the next to join that majority.

Senate Bill 813 is the initiator of this possible change to North Carolina's personal injury laws. The bill has already successfully passed through the House and is now before the state Senate.

Many support the bill because they think it is unjust to say that because a victim might have contributed to their accident in a very minor way, then they should not be awarded any damages.

Where there is a win, there is usually a lose. And that is where the insurance companies pipe in. According to sources, some insurance companies are worried because if more damages are awarded on average through the application of comparative negligence standards, then insurance companies will have to pay out more money than what they are used to doing.

The state has much to consider and debate. We will keep you posted on the status of Senate Bill 813 and how the decision will affect North Carolina personal injury victims.

Resource

Should N.C. change from contributory negligence to comparative fault?