Contributory negligence is
old law, a holdover from our years as a British
colony. Contributory negligence states that if you
contribute to your injuries in anyway, you are entitled
to no compensation. North Carolina is one of only
four states that still adheres to this old law.
The other forty-six states have done away with contributory
negligence – for good reasons.
Contributory
negligence is unfair. You do not hear about contributory
negligence because insurance companies routinely
fight for its survival. The remaining forty-six
states have some form of comparative negligence.
In comparative negligence, the jury determines
the amount of fault. For example, if a jury determines
that you are entitled to $10,000 to compensate
you for your injuries but also finds you 10 percent
at fault, you would receive only $9,000. In North
Carolina, in that same scenario, you would be
entitled to nothing.
Contributory negligence remains
the law in North Carolina because insurance companies
and big businesses spend millions of dollars lobbying
the legislature. There is no one to fight these
special interests. No one sees the need to challenge
the law until they are already subject to its
harsh consequences.
For example, you are stopped at
a stoplight when someone rear-ends you, destroying
your car and causing you damages. The insurance
company’s lawyer tells the jury that you
should have looked in your rearview mirror, seen
that this car was coming, and pulled off to the
side. You state that you didn’t have time
for such a maneuver.
Twelve jurors hear the story and
determine it is possible you could have pulled
off to the side and avoided this collision. Sure,
the defendant is mostly at fault, in fact the
defendant is 99.9 percent at fault, but the jury
decides that it cannot say that you could not
have done something, did not “in any way
contribute” to what happened. Therefore
you are entitled to no compensation. This result
occurs more often than not in North Carolina.
Because North
Carolina law favors the insurance companies and
big businesses, do not give a statement or speak
with anyone other than law enforcement officers
and medical providers if you have been injured.
You should contact a lawyer immediately. In many
instances a lawyer will tell you how to handle
your claim on your own.
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