What is comparative fault?
In most states the law will allow the trier-of-fact (judge or jury) to apportion fault among the parties to a tort action. For example, suppose that one person is driving in excess of the posted speed limit, but the other person that was hit entered the freeway without signaling. In this situation where each party has some degree of fault in causing an accident, the responsibility to the other person(s) is reduced by the others’ degree of fault. Suppose the jury determined that the person speeding was 80% at fault, but the person that failed to signal while merging on to the freeway was 20% at fault. The person who failed to signal would have his/her recovery reduced by 20%.