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If an injured victim was at fault, the 50% rule comes into play

On Behalf of | Aug 4, 2021 | Personal Injury |

Each year, many Georgians suffer accident-related injuries. A lot of them seek compensation. State laws determine who may collect damages in the case of an accident. In some states, you can’t receive compensation if you were even partially at fault. In other states, both parties can collect damages.

Georgia follows something called the 50% rule. This rule means that you can’t collect damages if the fault was 50% yours or more. If you were less than 50% at fault, you can.

How the 50% rule works

Determining who was at fault in an accident can be tricky. However, it’s usually clear when both people are at least partially responsible. In those cases, the accident wouldn’t have happened if just one party had behaved differently.

Courts determine whose negligence was greater and by what amount. Even if you engaged in negligence, you could still receive personal injury compensation as long as the other party was even more negligent. This is true even if the difference is small, such as a situation in which you were 49% responsible.

When both parties were equally at fault, nobody can receive compensation.

Limitations on damages

If you were less than 50% responsible, that doesn’t mean you can receive as much compensation as someone who’d made no mistakes. The amount subtracted from your compensation depends on how responsible you were. If your negligence contributed 49% toward the accident, your compensation would be 49% lower. If you were 15% at fault, your compensation would only be 15% lower.

Of course, nobody wants to sustain injuries from an accident — but some accidents are unavoidable. The best way to make sure you can receive compensation in the case of an accident is to stay alert and avoid engaging in negligent behavior.

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