Fault for a harmful accident in San Antonio does not always go to one party alone. In many cases, two or more parties share fault for a victim’s injuries and losses – including the victim. In these scenarios, Texas’s comparative negligence laws are used to determine how much financial compensation the victim is entitled to, if any, and a personal injury lawyer in San Antonio will assist you.
What Is Texas’s Comparative Negligence Law?
The comparative negligence law in Texas allows for the recovery of damages, or financial compensation, even when an injured victim is found to be partially at fault for an accident or injury. In a personal injury case where multiple parties share responsibility for an accident, a judge or jury will assign a percentage of fault to each party based on the facts and evidence involved.
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 33.003 states that the percentages of responsibility in a personal injury claim should be determined with respect to each person causing or contributing to the harm for which the recovery of damages is being sought. The designations given to each party must total 100 percent. Once fault is allocated among the involved parties, the courts will determine how this affects a victim’s financial recovery.
How Can the Comparative Negligence Law Affect a Personal Injury Case in San Antonio?
If the plaintiff or filing party is allocated a percentage of fault, the courts will reduce his or her financial recovery by an equivalent amount. For example, if a pedestrian is assigned 10 percent of fault for an accident for crossing the road outside of a crosswalk but a motor vehicle driver is assigned 90 percent for reckless driving, the injured pedestrian’s financial award would be reduced by 10 percent. In this example, a $500,000 jury verdict would be reduced by 10 percent ($50,000) to $450,000.
Modified vs. Pure Comparative Negligence Laws
Texas uses a modified comparative negligence law. This means an injured accident victim may only recover financial compensation from another party if his or her proportion of allocated fault is below the limitation that is set by law.
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 33.001, “Proportionate Responsibility,” states that in an action to which this chapter applies, a claimant may not recover damages if his percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent.
Under this law, if an individual is found to be 51 percent or more at fault for an accident, he or she will be barred from recovering any financial compensation. This type of limitation does not exist in states that abide by pure comparative negligence laws, such as California.
The Importance of Hiring an Attorney When Dealing With Comparative Negligence
As long as you are not more at fault for an accident than the other party, you could be eligible to recover financial compensation in a Texas personal injury lawsuit. However, the amount of your percentage of fault – even if it is less than 51 percent – can significantly affect the final value of your settlement or judgment award. For this reason, it is important to hire a personal injury lawyer in San Antonio if an insurance company is trying to blame you for the accident.
An attorney can combat the comparative negligence defense using evidence that proves the other party is at fault, such as eyewitness statements and expert testimony. Your lawyer will fight to minimize your proportion of fault to maximize your financial recovery. A lawyer can also protect you from being assigned the majority share of fault and losing any right to recover financial compensation at all.
If your San Antonio personal injury claim involves the legal doctrine of comparative negligence, waste no time in seeking advice and counsel from an experienced attorney. Contact Hill Law Firm Accident & Injury Lawyers for a free consultation about your specific case. We can use proven legal strategies to optimize your case outcome as much as possible.