Although understanding how any Illinois tort law could impact your civil claim is important, arguably the most important law you need to be aware of is Illinois shared fault laws.
These laws are of particular interest to those injury victims who know or have reason to believe that they may be found partially to blame for the accident they were involved in. Read on to learn more about how contributory fault works in the U.S. and how it could affect your Illinois injury settlement.
Every state has a contributory fault law that outlines how a personal injury lawsuit will be affected by an injury victim’s proportionate liability. There are three types of contributory fault: pure contributory negligence, pure comparative negligence, and modified comparative negligence.
North Carolina, for example is a pure contributory fault state. When an injury victim is partially to blame for their injuries in these states, they lose the opportunity to obtain an injury settlement. It doesn’t matter how minor their portion of fault, the claim will almost always be dismissed if an injury victim carries culpability.
In states such as California, which follows pure comparative negligence, injury victims who are partly to blame can still seek repayment of their damages from the party who is primarily to blame.
Similarly, states that follow modified comparative negligence laws, such as Illinois, also allow injury victims to seek compensation, but their portion of fault has a limit of somewhere between 49 percent and 51 percent, depending on the state. Once the injury victim exceeds this limit, they can no longer secure an injury settlement.
As previously mentioned, Illinois is a modified comparative fault state, so injury victims can be awarded compensation even when they are partially liable for their injuries. However, injury victims will still need to be held accountable for their own negligence, and this is done by reducing their award in proportion to their shared fault.
Let’s say, for example, that a motorcyclist made the decision to not wear a helmet when taking their bike out one night. They were subsequently struck by a drunk driver and suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI). In court, the judge found the motorcyclist to be 10 percent to blame for his traumatic brain injury because he was not wearing a safety helmet.
When the jury awarded him $100,000 for his economic and non-economic damages, his settlement was reduced by 10 percent and his case was closed with a final award of $90,000.
If you suspect that Illinois shared fault laws could influence your auto wreck claim, consult a qualified Rockford car accident lawyer at Mahoney & Mahoney, LLC. We offer complimentary consultations to injury victims across Illinois. To take advantage of this opportunity and schedule yours, call our office at 815-656-4600 or visit our website to fill out our quick contact form.
At Mahoney & Mahoney, LLC, practicing law is a family tradition. Tim and P. Michael Mahoney are a father and son team, and going back one generation further, Francis X. Mahoney had a distinguished career as both a judge and an attorney. P. Michael Mahoney has himself been a judge, and Tim is widely recognized as one of the top lawyers in Northwestern Illinois.... View full business profile here: Mahoney & Mahoney, LLC
