What Is California's Comparative Negligence Law? ​​

According to the California Civil Jury Instructions (CACI) 405, if the defendant claims that the plaintiff was partially responsible for the accident, they must prove that the plaintiff was also negligent and that their negligence contributed to their injuries. If the defendant can convince the jury, the jury then determines how much fault to assign to the plaintiff and reduces their award by that amount. Additionally, the total responsibility assigned among all defendants and plaintiffs must equal 100%.

California uses this standard in determining negligence liability, as outlined in California Civil Code Section 1714. The following injury cases may be affected by this law:

• Car accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Truck accidents
• Product liability accidents
• Slip and fall accidents
• Other California personal injury cases

This progressive law allows a plaintiff to recover damages even if they are partially to blame for the accident. So theoretically, you could be 99% responsible for an accident and still receive 1% of the damages requested, according to California Civil Code Section 1714.

Li v. Yellow Cab Co., 532 P.2d 1226 (1975) set the precedent for pure comparative fault laws in the state. The case involved a traffic accident where both the plaintiff and defendant drove negligently. Li, the plaintiff, tried to cross three lanes against oncoming traffic to pull into a service station. A Yellow Cab driver, the defendant, was traveling over the speed limit and ran a yellow light before hitting Li’s car. At the time, California law followed the doctrine of contributory negligence and would not have awarded Li any damages. However, the California Supreme Court decided against the all-or-nothing approach of contributory negligence in favor of comparative negligence. This allowed the plaintiff to recover for damages even though they were partly responsible for the accident.

In some cases, the judge determines the percentage of fault. However, typically the jury, following the judge’s instructions, determines the ratio of responsibility for the plaintiff and defendant.

In practice, a defendant makes a claim against a plaintiff, saying they contributed to the accident as well. The jury then receives specific instructions on assigning fault under California’s comparative negligence rules and does so to the best of their ability.

Under California Civil Jury Instructions No. 405, the jury follows specific instructions to assign blame. According to the State Bar of California, if you are an accident victim and share partial responsibility, the California courts base the assignment of negligence on four elements:

• Duty
• Breach of Duty
• Causation
• Damages

The jury should not assign blame unless there is significant evidence to back up the claim. The percentage of all blame assigned must total 100%. Both the defendant and plaintiff may be assigned a percentage of the blame.

Here is an example of how this plays out in practice: If your total case value is $100,000 and the jury assigns you 20% responsibility, you will only receive $80,000.