Comparative Fault
Sometimes, an accident occurs because multiple people act negligently. You might be partially responsible for what happened. When that’s the case, you may still be able to recover for some of your losses. This concept is called comparative fault.
Florida is a pure comparative fault state. When you’re partially to blame for your losses, the jury assigns you a percentage of the blame. Then, the court reduces your damages by the percent that you’re to blame.
For example, consider a scenario where you’re in an auto accident. The other side failed to yield, but you were speeding. The jury determines that you’re 30 percent at fault, and you have damages of $100,000. In that case, you can recover for only $70,000 of your damages. You can’t recover damages for the percent that you’re to blame.
It’s also important to remember that if multiple people act negligently, each person is responsible for paying you for their percent of your losses. That is, if one person is 20 percent responsible and another person is 40 percent responsible, and you have $100,000 in losses, you recover $20,000 from the first person and $40,000 from the second.
Each person is responsible for paying their share. There’s no way to make one person pay for all of the damages if multiple people are to blame. You must collect from each negligent actor for their share of your losses.