What Is Modified Comparative Negligence in Car Accidents? | TX

 Posted on July 01, 2024 in Car Accident

You may know that if you are injured in a car accident, you might qualify to seek compensation. Did you also know that Texas’s modified comparative negligence can disqualify you?

Understanding how modified comparative negligence affects car accident claims is a necessary step in your fight to obtain reasonable compensation for your injuries and damages. An experienced car accident lawyer can increase your chance of a favorable outcome.

What Is Negligence?

In legal matters, negligence is failing to act as a reasonable person would in the same situation. For car accidents and most other kinds of personal injury claims, you have to show evidence of someone else’s negligence to seek compensation from them.

You must prove these four elements are true to establish negligence:

• Someone owed you a duty of care.

• That party breached their duty of care.

• The breach directly caused your injury.

• You suffered damages as a result of the breach.

Every driver has a duty of care to take reasonable precautions to drive safely and avoid harming others. In this area of law, "damages" refer to losses or harm you suffer. The term also describes some of the types of compensation you might receive.

What Is Modified Comparative Negligence, and How Does It Affect You?

When someone is at fault for a car accident, they are liable for compensating the people that their actions injured. However, more than one party is responsible for causing many auto accidents.

In cases where more than one party is to blame, each is assigned a percentage of the fault based on their level of responsibility. This is where modified comparative negligence comes into play.

Every state has negligence laws. In Texas, injured car accident victims can seek compensation from at-fault parties as long as they are no more than 50.0 percent at fault. However, the damages received are reduced by the assigned percentage.

Suppose your assigned percentage of fault for a car accident is 25 percent, with total damages of $100,000. The most you can recover is $75,000 ($100,000- 25 percent.)

If you are more than 50.0 percent at fault, you cannot recover any compensation.

What If You Disagree With Your Assigned Percentage of Fault?

Your percentage of fault determines whether you can seek compensation and how much you might receive. Insurance companies do not like paying claims, and they often use various strategies to avoid paying them. One way to minimize payouts is to blame you unfairly for more than your share of fault. This tactic sometimes allows the company to deny your claim altogether.

It is difficult to challenge your assigned degree of fault without strong legal representation. Although you may think you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, this is not correct.  Not only are personal injury cases typically taken on a contingency fee, but clients represented by qualified personal injury attorneys receive many multiples of compensation than unrepresented victims.  

Request Your Free Consultation With a Collin County, TX Car Accident Lawyer Today

With over 150 years of combined experience, the legal team at Burress Injury Law will work tirelessly to protect your interests. We are so confident in our ability to help you that you will pay us only if we win your case.

Call us at 214-726-0016 today to schedule your free consultation with the leading McKinney, TX car accident attorney. We will evaluate your case and tell you how we can help.