CAN I RECOVER COMPENSATION IF I SHARE SOME OF THE BLAME FOR A CAR ACCIDENT IN NEW YORK?
New York operates under a modified comparative negligence system.
Simply:
- Anyone who contributes to an accident can be financially responsible for resulting damages, and
- You can recover money for crash-related injuries as long as you’re not entirely to blame.
Someone else just has to share some of the responsibility for the collision – even just one percent. When you play a role in an accident, your damages are reduced in direct proportion to degree of fault. So, if you’re allocated 30 percent of the blame, your damages are reduced by 30 percent.
Other parties and insurance companies will undoubtedly attempt to shift as much of the blame for the accident to you as they can. If you don’t fight back, those efforts will hurt your ability to get the money you deserve.
