Comparative Negligence: Do You Know What It Means?
Florida is a “pure comparative negligence state” that allows someone who has been due injured to the negligence of another person even though the injured person is also partially at-fault.
What this means is an injured person can collect the percentage of his damages for which he was not at-fault. Let’s look at a common scenario: The intersection crash.
Driver A is driving north on Crash Blvd approaching the intersection of Burn Blvd, Driver A has a green light but is traveling five miles an hour over the speed limit.
Driver B is driving westbound on Burn Blvd approaching Crash Blvd and has a red light, but since he is “sexting” his girlfriend, Driver B doesn’t notice the red light.
Driver A doesn’t notice Driver B’s car until it is in front of him. He “T-bones” Driver B’s car. Both Driver A & Driver B die.
The crash reconstruction shows that had Driver A been traveling the speed limit, both drivers would have lived. A jury finds Driver A 10% negligent and Driver B 90% negligent.
Both drivers have identical liability insurance policies of $100,000.00 each. What can their estates collect?
Driver A’s estate can collect $90,000.00 from Driver B’s insurance company. Driver B’s estate, though, can collect $10,000.00 from Driver A’s insurance company. That might seem unfair, but keep in mind that Driver B was only 90% at-fault, so he can collect the 10% for which he was not at-fault.
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