After going through an accident in San Antonio, the most common question victims ask a personal injury lawyer in San Antonio is if they are eligible to apply for compensation even if they are partially involved in causing the accident.
Good news! The answer to this question is yes, but it depends on the percentage of fault. If a victim is more than 50% involved in causing the accident, he is not eligible for compensation. But if his fault is under 50%, he is eligible to receive some amount of compensation for his loss.
There is a modified comparative negligence law used in Texas for managing personal injury cases. According to this law, an at-fault but injured victim can also get compensation for their loss. However, there will be a reduction in the total amount of expected compensation according to the percentage of the victim’s fault. Let us look into it more.
Understanding Comparative Negligence
Comparative negligence falls under the legal rules. You can call a comparative negligence rule a comparative fault, shared fault, or proportionate responsibility.
The comparative negligence rule involves the idea that the more you were responsible or involved in causing your own damages/injuries, the less compensation you will get for your medical expenses and other losses. It means that the percentage of your total damages equals the percentage of the other party’s fault.
For example, suppose you got into a comparative negligence case and received damages of $100,000. And if the other party was 80% involved in causing the accident (which depicts that you are 20% at fault), the maximum compensation you will get is $80,000. And if the other party is 60% involved in causing the accident, in that scenario, you will get $60,000 for your compensation.
Texas’ Modified Comparative Negligence Rule
Now, the 51% rule says that if you are 51% at fault in causing the damages/accident, you will not be eligible for compensation. In this case, your compensation amount will be zero. So, if you want to receive the recovery for your loss, your lawyer needs to prove that you are less than 50% involved in the accident.
This Texas law works just like comparative negligence, which involves 50% fault of the defendant, but if you are 51% involved in injuring yourself, then your potential recovery will be zero.
Understanding Contributory Negligence
There is this alternative side which involves a different kind of rule called contributory negligence. Under this rule, a victim cannot get compensation for their loss even if he was only 1% involved in causing his own damages.
This pure contributory negligence rule is a bit harsh, but the good news is that it is not applicable to personal injury claims in Texas. If you are someone going through a personal injury case in Texas for the first time, we want to give you the good news that you don’t need to worry about the contributory negligence rule.
What Are Joint Liability or Several Liabilities?
There is one question that is very frequently asked by personal injury victims, and that is: What if several other parties were involved in causing my damages/injuries? In cases like these, it is important to see who should pay the compensation for the damages, and there is a rule for that under Texas law.
And the rule is joint and several liability. Under this liability rule, there is a possibility that a defendant who is 51% at fault or more for causing your damages is severally or jointly liable. Under the application of this rule, a defendant who holds the higher percentage of fault in causing the injuries will be held responsible for all the recovery, expenses, or compensation for your loss.
To understand it in an easier way, let us assume that Mac and Jenny both were involved in causing the accident in which you received injuries. And say that Mac was 60% involved and Jenny was 40% involved in causing the accident.
If we apply a joint or several liability rule, you will be allowed to file a personal injury claim against both of them. In this way, Mac would have to pay 60% of the damages, while Jenny would have to pay 40%.
Or you will have another option, which is to hold Mac accountable for 100% of the damages, and he would have to pay you a total amount of compensation.
Why Joint Liability is important?
In some cases of joint liability, choosing just one party to pay the whole compensation is important. Considering the above-mentioned example of Mac and Jenny, suppose that Mac is a millionaire and Jenny is filing for bankruptcy; in this scenario, one would like to recover 100% of his compensation from Mac, who is a millionaire, instead of involving Jenny, who is badly broke.
