After a car accident, you want to know if the law is on your side. You want to be certain that you’ll be reimbursed for your medical expenses and lost wages, and know that the insurance company for the other driver will take responsibility.
Unfortunately, that desired certainty often disappears the moment someone mentions the words “contributory negligence.”
If you’ve heard that phrase—maybe from an adjuster, friend, or in an online search—you may have felt a bit nervous. After all, no one is a “perfect” driver. Could it be that there was some little thing you did that could stop you from getting the compensation you deserve?
At Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp, we would encourage you not to give up before you talk to us. We have decades of experience representing people who were injured in car accidents, including claims where the key fight is over who was at fault.
When the other side tries to argue that you were even slightly responsible, your case may depend on the smallest detail. Our firm has received a 10.0 “Superb” rating from Avvo, the highest available for legal ability and ethics, so you can trust that our Virginia Beach car accident attorneys will get to the bottom of your case.
If you’re thinking about filing a car accident claim, contact us at 833-997-1774 for a free consultation today.
What Is Contributory Negligence?
Contributory negligence is a legal principle that determines whether an injured person can recover compensation after an accident. It says that if you were even slightly at fault for an accident—even just one percent at fault—you can’t recover any money from the other driver, even if that driver was mostly to blame.
Most states use some form of comparative negligence. In those states, if you are partly at fault, your compensation is usually reduced by your percentage of fault. If a case is worth $100,000, for example, and a jury says you were 30 percent at fault, you might still recover $70,000 in a comparative negligence state.
Virginia, however, is different. This state follows pure contributory negligence, which means if you share any fault at all in the accident, you can be completely barred from recovering any compensation.
This doesn’t mean that injured people “never win” in Virginia. It just means that the fight over fault is often what your case depends on.
How Might the Rule of Contributory Negligence Affect My Case?
Insurance companies are most concerned with their bottom lines, so they may try to argue that you contributed to your own accident. They may overfocus on one tiny detail, for example. Maybe you weren’t perfectly centered in your lane when the accident happened. Maybe you didn’t slam on the brakes fast enough, or maybe you were going two miles over the speed limit. They may say that this small error is “proof” that you contributed.
Here's another example. Imagine you were rear-ended while stopped at a traffic light. Rear-end collisions are almost always the fault of the driver who hits the car from behind, because drivers are supposed to maintain a safe following distance. If your brake lights were out at the time of the accident, however, the insurance company may try to argue that you were negligent in taking care of your vehicle. They could claim that if your brake lights had been working properly, the other driver would have seen you stopping sooner and would have been able to avoid the collision.
Other Ways Insurance Companies Use Contributory Negligence Against You
They may also use your own words against you. People often say “I’m sorry” after an accident because they feel bad about it, even if it wasn’t their fault. You may have said, “I didn’t see them until the last second!”, not thinking much about it, but if someone hears you and the insurance company pulls that person in as a witness, they may be able to make it look like you were partially at fault.
Insurance company adjusters may also call you and ask you for a recorded statement. Never agree to this without your lawyer nearby. That’s because the insurance company isn’t trying to be “nice” or “helpful” or whatever they may tell you. Instead, they are trying to lock you into a timeline or wording before you’ve seen the police report, checked your injuries, or had time to think clearly.
In contributory negligence states like Virginia, these tactics can be especially dangerous because the insurer isn’t trying to shave just a little off the value of your settlement. They may be trying to reduce it to nothing.
How a Car Accident Lawyer Can Help
There’s a common double standard in serious crashes. The driver who caused the wreck will often have an insurance company that is working to limit your payout. Meanwhile, that same insurance company may tell you that you don’t need a lawyer—that you can work with them to get things taken care of.
In a contributory negligence state like Virginia, that advice can be costly. The other side needs only one believable argument to show that you contributed. Having a Virginia Beach car accident lawyer on your side can help a lot. That person can control communications so the insurance company can’t twist your words, gather evidence before it disappears, work with experts when needed, and prepare the case as if it may have to be proven in court, putting pressure on the insurance company.
In one case that we handled, for example, our client suffered severe leg and lower-body injuries when a turning driver failed to yield the right of way. The case centered on proving the turning driver’s responsibility for entering the roadway when it wasn’t safe. Our legal strategy was successful, and we helped our client secure a $1 million settlement.
If you are worried that you may have been partly at fault, contact our offices right away. We can test that fear against the evidence in your case and let you know your real options. Sometimes the argument that “you contributed” falls apart when you look at distances, timing, visibility, and traffic laws.
You can find our offices in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, and Portsmouth.
