Attorney Brad Holuta: Pennsylvania is what’s called a comparative fault state which means that the jury will allocate the fault for the accident between themselves and the other parties.
The old rule in what was called a contributory negligence system is even if a plaintiff was one percent at fault for causing the accident, even the slightest bit at fault, that person could not recover any damages.
There are very few states that follow that rule but Pennsylvania does not follow that rule. We have what’s called a comparative fault system which means that the jury will allocate fault between themselves and the other parties and will weigh it.
They’ll allocate the fault and if a jury puts 20% of the fault on the client and 80% of the fault on the other driver, the client can make a recovery for the 80% of their damages that the other party caused and as long as they are not more at fault than the other party, they can still make a recovery.
And it’s the job of your lawyer to minimize the allocation of fault on the client and to show that the other party is truly the one to blame.
If they have any questions you can call any of our offices or reach us at marcusandmack.com.
Marcus & Mack
