Media post: What If You Were Partly at Fault in a Car Accident?

Did you know that there were an estimated five million to six million total car crashes in the United States in 2025? Car accidents continue to be a significant cause of injuries and deaths in America, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Personal injury lawsuits often focus on how to establish liability to prove your damages. That is why it’s important to know what to do in your case if you contributed to your car accident. Will you be entitled to be financially compensated if you were “partially to blame” in the accident? 

Legal arguments about who was responsible for an accident usually arise after a collision occurs because there is more than one reason for the accident. It simply means that even when you were partly responsible for the accident, you might be entitled to compensation for damages, including hospital bills, lost wages, car repair costs, and more. When you are found partly at fault for the accident, your compensation might be reduced according to your share of blame for the accident.

Let us now take a look at the comparative negligence rules, the way fault is determined, and the assessment of fault by insurance companies.

Three Legal Systems, Three Different Outcomes

The rule that governs your claim depends entirely on which state the accident occurred in. There are three distinct approaches currently in use across the United States.

Pure Comparative Negligence

States such as California, New York, and Florida follow pure comparative negligence, allowing injured parties to recover compensation regardless of their share of fault. Their recovery is simply reduced by their percentage of responsibility. For example, a driver who is 80% at fault may still recover 20% of their damages.

Modified Comparative Negligence

Modified comparative negligence is what is applied in most cases, where the plaintiff can only recover if his fault remains under a certain amount, either 50% or 51%. If the fault exceeds the said percentage, the plaintiff cannot receive any payment.

Contributory Negligence

Contributory negligence laws are applied in Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, such that the presence of fault from the plaintiff makes them ineligible for recovery. The contributory negligence statute in Maryland and the District of Columbia was modified in 2025 by adding an exemption for vulnerable road users, including bikers and pedestrians.

How Fault Percentages Get Assigned

Fault percentages are not determined by one authority making a single call. They emerge from a process involving multiple sources of evidence, each of which can be influenced by the quality of documentation gathered at the scene.

The most important inputs are:

•       The police report is the first official record of what happened and also the conditions that existed at the same time.
•       Photographs of vehicle positions, road conditions, skid marks, traffic signals and visible damage taken before the scene changes.
•       Witness statements from people who saw the accident but have no stake in its outcome
•       Traffic camera or dashcam footage, when available
•       Physical evidence, like the point of impact on each vehicle, can sometimes confirm or maybe even contradict a driver’s account of what happened during that moment.

The insurance adjuster makes an assessment of the percentage of blame based on the facts available, which is, however, subject to challenge. If there is no dash cam footage or any other important evidence used in arriving at the conclusion, then the assessment will be incomplete.

What Not to Do at the Scene

Most car accidents reported are the result of negligence or failure to use reasonable care behind the wheel. And according to Conover car accident lawyer Lyndon R. Helton, speeding, moving violations, and distracted driving are the most common examples of negligence that can cause serious accidents.

One of the biggest mistakes after an accident is admitting fault before the evidence is reviewed. Statements like “I didn’t see you” can be used against you. Fault is determined through evidence and legal analysis, not by comments made at the scene.

Avoid giving recorded statements to the other driver’s insurance company without legal advice. Adjusters are trained to ask questions in ways that can generate admissions or inconsistencies. You are not required to provide a recorded statement to the adverse insurer.

How Partial Fault Affects Insurance Claims Practically

If you are found partly at fault, two things happen simultaneously. Your recovery from the other party’s insurer is reduced by your fault percentage. And your own insurer may pay your damages first if you carry collision coverage and then seek reimbursement from the other party’s insurer through a process called subrogation.

Insurers often have financial incentives to dispute fault percentages. The other driver’s insurer may try to assign you more blame, while your insurer may argue the opposite. These faults disputes happen often. And unfortunately, they can directly affect the compensation you receive.

To find out who is responsible for an accident, experts are required. This is where accident reconstruction experts come in. They use actual details of what happened to recreate what happened during the accident. They look at details like braking distances, impact angles, and the speeds of the vehicles involved. 

The testimonies of experts are pretty persuasive in court. They are especially important for liability questions in cases that involve severe injuries.

The Percentage That Changes Everything

A 49%-51% fault difference is the determining factor that determines whether an individual will receive compensation or not in the modified comparative negligence system. 

Since fault determination is founded on evidence, what one collects during an accident can determine whether one succeeds or fails in a claim.