California law follows a pure comparative negligence rule in apportioning blame after an accident. This means that even if you’re partially responsible for your accident you can still recover some of your damages. But that doesn’t seem fair. How can you be responsible for your own injuries?
Property owners must keep their premises reasonably safe, repair known hazards, and warn visitors of known risks. That doesn’t relieve you of the duty to take care of yourself when you visit, and property owners may use that fact to blame you for causing your own accident. At the Brand Law Group, we can help you shift the blame back where it belongs, and explain how you can sometimes be responsible for your own accident.
What is Comparative Negligence?
Comparative negligence is a way of acknowledging that in most accidents both parties are partially responsible. It’s very rare that only one person is totally at fault in any accident. In a slip and fall accident, the property owner may have failed to repair the steps and fix the lights, but perhaps you could have been a little more careful. The law realizes this and says the property owner is 80% responsible but you are 20% responsible for your broken ankle.
How You Can Cause Your Own Injury
In California and many other states, property owners are not liable for “open and obvious dangers.” That is, if a hazard is so apparent that anyone using reasonable common sense should have seen it, the owner is not responsible if someone falls in.
The owner may not be responsible if you are in an area you’re not supposed to be in. If you decide to enter a place marked “Employees Only” and suffer a slip and fall injury, you are trespassing, and laws for trespassers differ from those for licensees (business-related visitors).
If you’re not paying attention, like a person who was busy texting, walked into a fountain and became a viral video sensation, you may have difficulty convincing a court that the property owner was responsible for your injuries. Even where hazards are well-marked, people have a responsibility to look where they’re going.
Finally, there is a legal doctrine known as “assumption of risk.” This only applies in situations where you have been advised that you are undertaking a dangerous activity, like bungee jumping or rock climbing, and have voluntarily signed away any right to sue. If you are injured under these conditions, the owner is not liable.
Getting Help if You May Be Partially Responsible
If you may have been partially responsible for your own slip and fall accident, don’t panic yet. In California, you can still recover damages in your case, and you may not be as liable as you think. The Brand Law Group knows how to collect the evidence needed to bolster your claim and explain the ins and outs of comparative negligence. Contact us today.
