Understanding Comparative Negligence in Car Accidents
When you listen to commercials on TV, many times you’ll hear from national firms that advertise on TV or other firms, if you’re in an accident and it’s not your fault. Well, I’d like to talk to you about what we call comparative negligence. My name is Mike S. Ashworth. I’m a personal injury lawyer in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
One of the things that is important to know is if you’re partially at fault, that does not mean you are not entitled to compensation. Many times in accidents, each driver has some degree of fault. In comparative negligence, what happens is that it’s like a seesaw that is balanced. So let’s say that you’re 20% at fault and the other driver’s 80% at fault, then your damages will be adjusted by 20%, but the 80% driver is still accountable for 80% of your damages.
Comparative Negligence in Other Types of Cases
So don’t think that, well, you know, I wasn’t paying attention quite as good as I could have or I should have honked the horn or I can’t remember if I had my turn signal on or not or anything like that. Don’t write it off. It’s very possible you’re entitled to damages if the other driver is at greater fault than you. And it’s not just limited to automobile cases. That’s related to any negligence case in the state of Oklahoma.
So medical malpractice, automobile cases, nursing home situations, they all are subject to comparative negligence analysis. Negligence cases are very common in nursing homes and sometimes the resident of the nursing home may be partially at fault. They may have gotten out of the bed. They’re cognitive. They know what they’re doing. They got out of bed when they’re not supposed to. They’re supposed to use a call light. That’s an area that there could be some arguable comparative negligence. I tried a case similar to that in McCurtain County, Oklahoma a number of years ago where they found that the gentleman who had fallen was partially at fault because he did not follow his orders. And what he did was he was trying to get out of bed, go to the bathroom, didn’t use his call light, and he fell.
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Now, if the person has no cognition, let’s say for example, they have Alzheimer’s and things like that, that will augment, well, that will mitigate that because they don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t know what they’re doing. But don’t assume. Call us first at TulsaPersonalInjuryLawyer.pro to speak with a car accident attorney in Oklahoma.
