If I’m partially responsible for an accident, am I still entitled to recover?

New York is what’s called a “comparative negligence state,” and what that means is that you’re entitled to recover to the extent that another party is responsible to the extent that they’re responsible. So if you think of it in terms of what a jury would have to do in the event that a case goes to trial, there’s a verdict sheet that a jury has to answer certain questions. So the first question that we have in every liability case that we have is “Was the defendant negligent?” If the jury says “yes,” then we move on to the question “Was the plaintiff negligent?” If a jury believed that both the defendant and the plaintiff were negligent, were responsible, they would then assess a proportionate share of liability totaling a hundred to each of the parties, and to that extent, the plaintiff is entitled to recover to the extent that the defendant is responsible.

Discuss the details of your accident case with a New York personal injury attorney of Hach & Rose, LLP, at (212) 779-0057.