Partial Fault in a Wrongful Death

Answer:

Sometimes when people come to us in these matters, they know a little bit of something of how the accident happened and suspect that their loved one might have been partially responsible for his or her own death. They want to know if there’s a case. The answer is perhaps. Florida has what’s called comparative negligence. Comparative negligence simply is you can be partially responsible for your death and still recover damages.

Let’s say that a person died in an automobile accident. We go try the case in court and the jury said that the person who died was 50% at fault and the other driver was 50% at fault and they awarded the survivors $100,000. The comparative negligence of the person who died is factored in and the judge will reduce that $100,000 ward by half so that it becomes $50,000. That’s how that works. Comparative negligence applies in wrongful death case. It’s not fatal to a wrongful death case. It simply reduces the value of it, one of the main things we take into consideration. If you have that situation, do not hesitate to call us if it’s occurred in Nassau County, or Duval County, or any of the surrounding areas. We will sit down with you, walk you through it, and see how best we could help you.