If you’ve been injured in an accident in Washington State, like a car accident or slip and fall accident in Seattle, you might be wondering how fault is determined and what it means for your ability to recover damages. Washington follows a legal framework called comparative negligence, which allows responsibility for an accident to be divided between multiple parties.
This system means that even if you were partly to blame, you may still be able to collect compensation. However, the amount you recover will be reduced in proportion to your share of fault. Learn more about how this comparative negligence system works below.
What Is Negligence?
Negligence is the legal foundation of most personal injury cases. It occurs when someone fails to act with reasonable care and causes harm to another person. Drivers who ignore traffic signals, property owners who fail to fix hazards, and businesses that neglect safety standards can all be found negligent if their actions lead to an injury.
To succeed in a negligence claim, you generally need to show four elements:
- The defendant owed you a duty of care
- The defendant breached that duty
- The breach directly caused your injury
- You suffered damages as a result
Once these elements are established, the question of how much each party contributed to the accident becomes critical. That’s where comparative negligence comes in.
How Washington’s Pure Comparative Negligence System Works
Washington uses a pure comparative negligence standard to address the issue of contributory fault. Under this approach, you can recover damages no matter how high your percentage of fault is. The trade-off, however, is that your recovery will be reduced by your degree of fault.
For example, imagine you are awarded $100,000 in damages after a car accident. If the court finds you 40% at fault because you were speeding, your recovery would be reduced by 40%, leaving you with $60,000.
How Washington’s Law Compares to Other Systems
Not every state follows the same approach to negligence. In fact, there are three main systems in the United States, and Washington’s rule is considered one of the most generous to injury victims.
- Pure contributory negligence: This is the strictest rule, followed by only a handful of states. If you are even 1% responsible for an accident, you cannot recover any compensation at all.
- Modified comparative negligence: Many states use this system. You can recover damages only if you are less than 50% or 51% at fault, depending on the specific state law. If you exceed that threshold, you are barred from any recovery.
- Pure comparative negligence: Washington falls into this category along with 12 or so other states. Here, you can recover compensation regardless of your level of fault, but your award is reduced in direct proportion to your share of responsibility.
This means that someone in Washington who is 80% responsible for a crash can still recover 20% of their damages, while in a modified comparative negligence state, they would likely get nothing.
Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer for a Free Case Review
If you were hurt in an accident in Seattle or elsewhere in Washington, the state’s pure comparative negligence system could make a major difference in your recovery. Since it’s likely the insurance company will try and pin some of the blame on you to protect their profits, it may be in your best interest to hire an experienced personal injury attorney in Seattle to help protect your interests.
Contact Seattle Injury Law today for a free consultation. Our team will work hard to maximize the value of your claim and put as much money into your pocket as we can.
