Denied Claim Because of 1% Fault, Thanks to my State's Contributory Negligence Law...

[Oktober]

Not going to get into specifics, but a friend just went thought the ordeal....

Apparently my own state, along with only other four states, practice what's known as "contributory negligence" and even if you're only 1% at fault, you can't win against the 99% at-fault party's insurance company.

Even the other party's insurance agent and claim representative freely admit
that on record. They said "if this occurred just a few miles away next door
in the State of ------------, we'll pay 100% of your claim...." Apparently my
state's legislature does not feel the need to repeal this ancient law from the
colonial days. (yes, 300-year-old laws....) Guess which political lobby groups
regularly lobby against the repeal of these laws? Yes, you guess it, the
insurance industry lobby. I don't blame them... they have the right to do
so... it's just too be there are no lobby for the consumers and victims.

What I don't understand is this.... doesn't this act like a double-edged sword
for the insurance companies as well? But I guess their beancounters have
already done the math and figured that it was cheaper to fight to keep these
laws on the books?

Oh well.... sorry for the rant... I just thought that it's important for folks
to know about this.... according to my own family attorney, the five states
(or jurisdictions) are:

Alabama
District of Columbia
Maryland
North Carolina
Virginia

 

[djs]

Contributory negligence is a very real thing and is still used in a lot of courts today. Most states, even for insurance claims, use some version of it, though its usually used to figure who pays how much.

Then, on top of this, you have the no-fault states, which is (to me) a much stranger concept, but hey, it makes sense to some.

Insurance companies probably don't care about this as much as you think. In the end, to them, its a wash. They don't pay some claims, but they do pay some others, not a big difference in the end of the day.

This is why you should carry your own insurance and then you are taken care of, regardless of contributory negligence.

Dan

 

[Milkman1265]

I think its used mostly and all the time on worker comp claims for part b of the liability.

 

[USF3983]

I've heard of it as taught in licensing class. I'm more familiar with comparative negligence as is the law in Florida.

As far as I've been aware, no-fault in Florida was designed to keep frivolous lawsuits out of the court systems and have immediate coverage for the insured whether at-fault or not. In Florida its only $10,000 but its proven to be a burden with the current amount of fraud going on.