Negligence is a legal term that refers to the failure of a person to use ordinary care in his or her actions. In Texas, a plaintiff's contributory negligence may completely bar recovery. This means that even though someone else may have been primarily responsible for your injury, if you were also partly at fault for what happened, then you will not be able to recover any damages from that person. The standard for establishing a party's contributory negligence is the same as that for establishing negligence by another party: a preponderance of the evidence.
Contributory negligence is not a defense to a claim of negligence, and it applies even if you are partially at fault. In Texas, if the Plaintiff is found 51% at fault or more for his or her own injuries, then as a matter of law they may not recover for their claim.
All negligence is not created equal. In Texas, the contributory negligence standard applies to civil cases in which a plaintiff alleges negligence as a cause of his or her injury. Under this standard, if you were partially at fault for causing your own injuries, you cannot recover damages from the person who was more at fault.
Contributory negligence can only reduce your recovery if it was the cause of your injury. Additionally, partial causation is only relevant if both parties were negligent; if one defendant had full control over what happened and another did not contribute at all (or did so negligently), then claiming "contributory" can be misleading.
Most states apply the pure comparative negligence standard, which requires you to take into account any degree of fault and then apportion damages accordingly. This means that if you're partially at fault for your injuries, you can't recover anything from another party unless they're also partially at fault.
Texas law applies a contributory negligence standard which bars recovery if the Plaintiff is found at greater fault than the Defendant.
The law of negligence is complex and can vary from state to state. If you have any questions, please contact Ryan Pigg at 855-713-PIGG.
