Florida's Comparative Negligence Law And What That Means For You
Brian O Sutter
Accident Lawyers
Negligence seems like a pretty straightforward concept to grasp but the legal system is always here to make it a bit more complicated but for clarifying reasons. Law practice is intricate and detailed because the human condition is not an easy one to regulate. Negligence in the justice system can be defined as failure to take reasonable care that results in injury or damage to another person or property. Fault in legal cases is not always 100% clear on who is the person at fault or what is at fault. This is where comparative negligence gets the game ball, it is designed to help in these situations. What Is Comparative Negligence?
Comparative negligence falls under case law specifically for personal injury and accident lawyers, like us here at All Injuries. IT was adopted in the state of Florida in 1973 and is designed to help juries assign blame correctly. What this means is that before 1973 if there was a little bit of fault to be put on the otherwise victim of the accident than the fault would be split between the parties. For example, if you were going to make left turn on a yielding greenlight and as you did that someone t-boned you going 55 mph in a 25 mph zone, it would seem to be their fault for speeding. However, if later it was proven that your left turn signal was malfunctioning at the time, then the blame for that accident would be split between you.
Comparative negligence is put in place to help avoid these tricky and harshly unjust situations. So now in Florida is this exact scenario happened, the jury would be able to decide who was more at fault in the scenario and would probably conclude that the excessive speed would be the comparatively more aggressive cause of the accident and any injuries sustained.
Why Is Comparative Negligence Important?
Other than the aforementioned scenario and its implications of justice the comparative negligence law is helpful in many injury cases. The most important part to understand in the scenario above is that you may not have known that your signal wasn't working and therefore thought you were obeying the law as you should. The speeding car was obviously and consciously breaking the law, making it only right that they receive the fault and punishment.
It is a common occurrence that an accident is not the sole fault of someone and this gives the jury the opportunity to place blame accordingly. It also give them the power to help the completely innocent fully. Comparative negligence will also come into play when dealing with insurance companies and how much they need to get involved with each other to figure out fault. An accident lawyer would be very important when you see that you are a completely innocent victim in your particular accident.
The jury is only in charge of fault percentages when the case goes to trial obviously. Otherwise the percentage of blame is decided upon in mediation which is the big stage for your accident attorney and they will be able to get you the appropriate amount of compensation based on the fault percentages. In severe cases, instead of pointing figures, there are accident creation specialists who can investigate and analyze the specifics of the accident to help the lawyers and juries place the percentage of blame accurately. Comparative negligence is a law that serves fairness and justice.