California follows what’s known as a pure comparative negligence system. This means that even if you’re partially at fault for an accident, you can still recover compensation.
The catch?
Your compensation is reduced by the percentage of fault assigned to you.
For example, if you’re involved in a car accident and your personal injury attorney in Bakersfield helps prove that you were only 25% at fault, you won’t get the full amount of your compensation. If your damages total $100,000, you’ll only receive $75,000 because 25% is deducted due to your share of responsibility.
Even if you were 90% at fault, you could still recover 10% of the total damages. This rule ensures that injured parties are not completely barred from receiving compensation, unlike some states that follow stricter negligence laws.
Now that we’ve covered that, let’s break down the different types of negligence that can arise in Bakersfield and how they might apply to personal injury cases.
Ordinary Negligence
Negligence happens when a person fails to exercise the level of care that a reasonable person would under similar circumstances. This is called ordinary negligence, and it’s the foundation of most personal injury claims.
For example, if a driver in Bakersfield is texting while driving and rear-ends another car at a red light, that’s ordinary negligence. They didn’t intend to cause harm, but their lack of attention led to an accident.
In the same vein, if a grocery store employee mops the floor and forgets to put up a caution sign, causing a customer to slip and get injured, that’s also ordinary negligence.
Gross Negligence
While ordinary negligence is about carelessness, gross negligence goes a step further. This happens when someone acts with extreme disregard for the safety of others. It’s basically reckless behavior that any reasonable person would know is dangerous.
A common example of gross negligence in Bakersfield would be a drunk driver speeding through a school zone. They’re not just being careless; they’re displaying a total disregard for human life. In cases of gross negligence, courts may award punitive damages, which are extra penalties meant to punish the wrongdoer and deter others from acting similarly.
Comparative Negligence
Comparative negligence applies when both parties share some level of fault in an accident. Let’s say you’re driving through an intersection in Bakersfield and another driver runs a stop sign, crashing into you. However, you were speeding at the time. The court might determine that the other driver was 70% responsible while you were 30% at fault. In this case, your compensation would be reduced by 30% under California’s pure comparative negligence law.
This rule ensures fairness by making sure that everyone involved takes responsibility for their actions, rather than having one party shoulder all the blame.
Contributory Negligence
Some states follow contributory negligence, which is much stricter. If you are even 1% at fault for an accident, you cannot recover any compensation. Fortunately, California doesn’t use this system, but it’s still important to understand how it differs from comparative negligence.
Let’s say you were walking through downtown Bakersfield and trip over a broken sidewalk. If you were looking at your phone instead of watching where you were going, a contributory negligence system might bar you from getting compensation. However, under California’s comparative negligence system, you could still recover some damages, even if you shared part of the blame.
Vicarious Negligence
Vicarious negligence (or vicarious liability) happens when one party is held responsible for the actions of another. This often applies in cases involving employers and employees, parents and children, or even pet owners and their pets.
For example, if a truck driver causes an accident while making a delivery in Bakersfield, the trucking company could be held liable for the driver’s actions.
And then, if a dog owner in Bakersfield lets their aggressive dog roam free and it bites someone, the owner could be vicariously liable for the injury.
Negligence Per Se
Sometimes, proving negligence is simple. If a person violates a law designed to protect public safety and causes harm, that’s called negligence per se, meaning the act itself is automatically considered negligent.
For example, California has strict drunk-driving laws. If a drunk driver in Bakersfield crashes into another car and injures the driver, they are automatically considered negligent under negligence per se because they broke the law.
The injured party doesn’t have to prove that the driver was being careless; the fact that they were driving under the influence is enough to establish negligence, and a decent personal injury lawyer can help you establish that and get compensation.
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