In any personal injury case, the injured victim must prove that the other person was negligent in some way. Negligence refers to the failure to exercise reasonable car for the safety of others. In some personal injury cases, negligence is disputed by the defendant or the insurance company. So what happens then?
In Massachusetts, we have a law known as comparative negligence. Under comparative negligence, if the victim was partially responsible for their injuries then their settlement value is reduced by the amount they are determined to be negligent. The following is an example:
Suppose a pedestrian is walking at a crosswalk when he steps out into the roadway and is struck by a speeding vehicle. If the pedestrian had looked both ways, he could have seen the vehicle coming in his direction. However, he may not have had time to react because of the vehicle speed. The pedestrian’s case is worth $100,000.00.