Select Your Injury Type

(check all that apply)

Birth Injuries

Brain Injuries

Broken Bones

Burns

Hearing Loss

Vision Loss

Paralysis

Sexual Abuse

Back Injuries

Surgery

Neck Injuries

Other

Name

Email

Phone

Address

City

State

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington DC West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Zip

Date of birth

010203040506070809101112 01020304050607080910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962 1961 1960 1959 1958 1957 1956 1955 1954 1953 1952 1951 1950 1949 1948 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1942 1941 1940 1939 1938 1937 1936 1935 1934 1933 1932 1931 1930 1929 1928 1927 1926 1925 1924 1923 1922 1921 1920 1919 1918 1917 1916 1915 1914 1913 1912 1911 1910 1909 1908 1907 1906 1905 1904

Cause

Truck Accident Car Accident Dangerous Drug Medical Device Maritime Accident Railroad Accident Bad Faith Insurance Governmental Liability Slip Trip & Fall Lawyer Negligence Healthcare Negligence Wrongful Death Cruise Ship Injury Recreational Boating Dog Bite Motorcycle Accident Other

Injury date

010203040506070809101112 2024 2023 2022

Injured party

me spouse child relative friend

Est. medical bills

Is this injury work related?

yes no

Have you already filed a Personal Injury lawsuit for this injury?

yes no

Was the injury someone else's fault who can be held financially responsible?

yes no

Do you have an attorney?

yes no

I agree to the Terms & Conditions

By submitting your request, you grant permission for one of our premier partners to contact you using the phone number or email address that you have provided so we may assist you with your request. You agree that the matched advocate or law firm may use an automatic telephone dialing system even if the number you provided is a wireless phone number.

Please complete the math problem to prove you are not a robot: =

Apportionment of Fault & Damages | Contributory Negligence | Little Rock Injury Lawyer

How do you know your claim will be paid? Who should pay it? What happens when multiple parties were at fault and each contributed to your injury? What if you were partially at fault for your own injury? These are all questions that a Little Rock personal injury lawyer can help you answer. Call one of the Little Rock accident attorneys listed on this site today for an explanation of the law relating to apportionment of fault and damages. Your Little Rock injury lawyer will help make sure that you name all responsible parties in your lawsuit and that each is held accountable for the portion of damages they caused.

Although a Pulaski County accident attorney can give a more detailed explanation of the law relevant to your case, the following gives a general description of Arkansas’s laws on apportionment of fault and damages:

Contributory Negligence, Comparative Negligence, and Joint and Several Liability

Each state has different rules on how to govern the liability of the different parties involved in a civil tort claim. In the simplest tort situation, one person is completely at fault and has to pay for all of the damages. Unfortunately, not all cases are as simple as this. In many cases, multiple parties are responsible for one person’s injuries. The situation is even more difficult when the injured party is also at fault. To deal with these complicated tort scenarios, the different state court systems have devised methods for apportioning fault. Unfortunately, some personal injury cases can become more complicated. While some states use the contributory negligence rules, other states use a comparative fault system. Finally, other states use modified versions of these systems. Thus, there are four possible systems that a state can use:

1. pure contributory negligence,
2. pure comparative negligence,
3. 50% modified comparative negligence, and
4. 51% modified comparative negligence.

Often, an innocent party suffers an injury due to two other parties’ negligent actions. Thus, the law had to develop a system of rules to apportion fault amongst two negligent parties. This situation becomes even more complicated when one of the negligent parties cannot cover his share of the damages. In response to this difficult situation, courts developed the legal system of joint and several liability, which is explained at greater length below.

Contributory Negligence Explained

The central tenet of pure contributory negligence requires a person to play no part in an accident to recover any award of damages. Thus, a defendant in a personal injury case could avoid having to pay a plaintiff any damages if he or she were able to show that the plaintiff was in any way negligent, regardless of how small the percentage of fault attributed to the plaintiff was. Simply put, if you in any way contributed to your own suffering and injury, then you cannot recover for your personal injury under a contributory negligence system. Currently, only five states adhere to the contributory negligence fault apportionment system, and Arkansas is not one of them. Thus, if you are a Little Rock or Pulaski County injury victim, you will not have to worry about whether a small amount of personal negligence that contributed to your injury will bar your recovery entirely. However, due to comparative negligence, explained below, if you are half or more responsible for your injury, you will not be able to recover. 

Comparative Negligence Explained

In contrast to the contributory negligence system, under the comparative negligence system a party may recover damages regardless of whether the plaintiff contributed to her injury. Instead of being a complete bar to recovery, the plaintiff’s recovery is reduced by his or her percentage of fault. If your state is one of the thirteen states that currently use the pure comparative negligence system, the jury in your case will be instructed to apportion fault by percentage of fault attributable to each of the parties involved in the lawsuit. The judge presiding over your personal injury case will then take those percentages and divide up the damage award accordingly.

The remaining U.S. states use one of the two modified comparative fault systems. Twelve states use the 50% comparative fault system. Under this modified version of comparative fault, a plaintiff can only recover if the jury apportions that plaintiff only 49% or less of the fault in causing the accident to the plaintiff. Therefore, if the jury determines that a plaintiff is 50% responsible, then that plaintiff will not be able to recover. The states that do not follow either comparative negligence system explained above or contributory negligence use the 51% comparative fault system. Under this modified version of comparative fault, an injured party can only recover when the jury determines that his percentage of fault is less than 51%. Unlike the 50% comparative fault system, a plaintiff in a 51% comparative fault jurisdiction can still recover even if both parties were equally, meaning 50% at fault, or responsible for the injury. Arkansas uses the 50% system, which will be applicable to your Little Rock personal injury case.

Joint and Several Liability Explained

As mentioned above, a simple personal injury claim can quickly become complicated when a plaintiff’s injury is caused by multiple defendants. In these situations, the legal system must figure out a just solution to numerous problems. Who is responsible for paying the damages? The party more at fault? Both negligent parties? What happens when one of the defendants does not have the resources to pay his share of the fault? Just as each state approaches the apportionment of fault differently, the different state court systems have also answered these questions differently. Some courts have applied the theory of joint liability. Meanwhile, other states use the theory of several liability. Finally, some courts use the legal theory of joint and several liability.

Under the legal theory of joint liability, each defendant is held liable up to the total amount of the financial obligation, or the damages awarded. However, this does not mean that the plaintiff recovers the total amount from each defendant, thereby allowing him a double recovery. On the other hand, in Arkansas and other state courts that apply the several liability system, each defendant is only liable for the portion of fault that the jury attributes to him or her. The third solution to the difficult questions above is the system of joint and several liability. Under this system, each defendant is held responsible for his or her percentage of fault. If, however, one of the other defendants is unable to cover his percentage of fault due to a lack of monetary resources, then the remaining defendants must make up the shortcomings for the defendant that is unable to pay his amount of the plaintiff’s damages. Proponents of this system argue that it is the best scenario because it allows the plaintiff to be fully compensated. Little Rock, Arkansas personal injury cases do not follow a system of joint and several liability. 

The Arkansas Fault & Liability Systems

As noted, Arkansas law follows the 50% modified comparative negligence system and the joint and several liability system. Thus, a Little Rock injury victim may only recover if his or her liability amounts to 49% of the fault or less. For example, if two people are involved in a Pulaski county car accident and each party is found to be 50% at fault, neither may, under Arkansas law, recover from the other party. If one party were found to be 75% at fault, however, the other party could recover %75 of the damages that  party suffered.

For more information on the apportionment of fault and damages in your specific case, call a Little Rock personal injury attorney today for a free initial consultation.

Personal Injury Lawyers Serve Little Rock and Surrounding Cities

Serving clients throughout Central Arkansas, including Adams Field, Agusta, Arkadelphia, Batesville, Beebe, Benton, Cabot, Clarksdale, Clarksville, Conway, Dumas, England, Fordyce, Forest City, Hope, Hot Springs, Iron Springs, Jacksonville, Little Rock, Malvern, Mayflower, Mena, Morrilton, Nashville, Pine Bluff, Russellville, Searcy, Sheridan, Spadra, Waldron, Warren, and other communities in Pulaski County.

Pulaski County personal injury attorneys will zealously pursue your case through settlement negotiations or a trial. Call now for an explanation of your legal rights and options.