So you got into an accident, and you’re worried because maybe you weren’t driving perfectly either. Maybe you were going a bit over the speed limit when someone ran a red light. Or you glanced at your phone right before another driver made an illegal turn. That’s a scary position to be in, but California has something called pure comparative negligence, and it’s actually designed to protect people in exactly your situation. You can still recover compensation even when you share some fault. At Choulos & Tsoi Law Firm, we understand how this works matters because it directly affects how much money you can get.
What Is Comparative Negligence
Think of it this way. California doesn’t believe in all-or-nothing outcomes. The law recognizes that car accidents are messy, complicated events where more than one person might’ve done something wrong.
Under comparative negligence, your compensation gets reduced by whatever percentage of fault you carry. Let’s say the insurance company or a jury decides you were 20% responsible. You still get 80% of your damages. If you’re 60% at fault, you recover 40%. There’s no cutoff point. Even if you’re 99% responsible, you can still collect that remaining 1%. That’s what makes California different from a lot of other states.
How Fault Gets Determined
Insurance adjusters look at everything when they’re figuring out fault percentages. If your case goes to trial, so does the jury. They’ll consider:
- What the police report says
- Statements from witnesses who saw what happened
- Any video footage from traffic cameras or dashcams
- Physical evidence, like where the skid marks are, how the vehicles got damaged
- Whether anyone broke traffic laws
A Santa Monica car accident lawyer helps you gather this evidence and, more importantly, present it in the best possible light. Because insurance companies will absolutely try to pin more blame on you if they think they can get away with it. It’s just what they do.
Why This System Benefits Injury Victims
Most states don’t do it this way, some won’t let you recover a dime if you’re more than 50% at fault, while others say that any fault on your part bars you completely. Fortunately, California’s system is better for injury victims.
You always have a path to compensation here, no matter what your fault percentage is. And that becomes really important when liability isn’t obvious. Most accidents involve multiple factors. Witnesses remember things differently. The comparative negligence system deals with that reality instead of pretending every case has a clear good guy and bad guy.
Common Insurance Company Tactics
Insurance adjusters know exactly how comparative negligence works. They’re going to use it against you if they can. They’ll try to inflate your percentage of fault by pointing out every tiny thing you did wrong. They’ll say you could’ve avoided the collision if you’d been more careful. Sometimes they’ll claim you were distracted even when they don’t have real proof. Or they’ll argue you were driving too fast for conditions when you were actually under the speed limit.
Don’t just accept whatever fault percentage they throw at you. A Santa Monica car accident lawyer from our firm can push back on these tactics. We challenge unfair fault allocations all the time. And honestly, insurance companies often back down when someone shows up with solid evidence and makes strong legal arguments. They’re betting you won’t fight back.
If you’ve been hurt in an accident where you might share some fault, don’t assume your case is hopeless. California law still gives you options. Talk to our team about what happened. We’ll go through the facts with you, explain how comparative negligence applies to your specific situation, and fight to minimize your responsibility percentage. Because every percentage point matters when it comes to your final recovery amount.
