Could pure contributory negligence soon be a thing of the past in NC?
Posted By admin on May 20, 2009
North Carolina (along with Virginia, Maryland, Alabama, and the District of Columbia) has long been one of the last states to cling to the common law rules for pure contributory negligence.
What is contributory negligence? Under the current North Carolina law, a plaintiff who is at fault for as little as 1% of his injury can be totally barred from recovering damages from a defendant who is 99% at fault for the injury. (There are, as always, a few exceptions - but that’s the basic idea!)
The NC House of Representatives passed H.B. 813 that would abolish NC’s pure contributory negligence rule in a late-night 72-43 vote on May 13, 2009. The bill would change the state to a scheme known as ‘comparative fault’ or ‘contributory fault’, where the finder of fact awards damages based on the relative fault in an accident. Simply put, if a defendant is found to be 70% responsible for an accident, he would be ordered to pay 70% of the damages. This is the majority rule across the US, adopted either judicially or legislatively in 46 states. However, the bill does state that plaintiffs would still receive nothing if they are found at least 50% at fault.
What sounds like a reasonable concept has opposition from businesses - especially insurance companies. They have stated that contributory negligence has worked relatively well so far, and ratification of H.B. 813 would raise insurance premiums because more claims will be paid.
“We believe that in these economic times that’s a bad move,” said Jennifer Cohen, executive director of the Insurance Federation of North Carolina, representing the largest insurers in the state. “If you shift the liability, it’s going to affect those insurance rates.”
Change is always big and scary, but this seems to be a good step forward for North Carolina. The key - as always - is to find the right balance.
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