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Simple English definitions for legal terms
contributory negligence
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A quick definition of contributory negligence:
Contributory negligence is a legal rule that says if someone is hurt because of someone else's mistake, but they also made a mistake that contributed to the harm, they cannot get any money to help them. This rule is not used in many places anymore because it can be unfair. Instead, most places use a rule called comparative negligence, which means that if someone is hurt because of someone else's mistake, but they also made a mistake, they can still get some money to help them, but not as much as they would have gotten if they didn't make a mistake. Some places still use contributory negligence, but most places use comparative negligence now.
A more thorough explanation:
Contributory negligence is a legal rule that prevents a plaintiff from recovering damages from a defendant if the plaintiff was also negligent and contributed to the harm. This rule is used in some jurisdictions, but many have replaced it with the doctrine of comparative negligence.
Under contributory negligence, a plaintiff cannot recover damages even if the defendant was mostly at fault. For example, if a driver runs a red light and hits a pedestrian who was jaywalking, the pedestrian cannot recover damages because they were also negligent by jaywalking.
However, there are exceptions to the rule of contributory negligence. One exception is the doctrine of last clear chance, which allows a plaintiff to recover damages if the defendant had the last opportunity to avoid the harm but failed to do so.
Most jurisdictions have replaced contributory negligence with comparative negligence, which allows a plaintiff to recover damages based on the percentage of fault assigned to each party. For example, if a plaintiff was 20% at fault and the defendant was 80% at fault, the plaintiff can recover 80% of the damages.
Overall, contributory negligence is a strict rule that can lead to unfair outcomes, which is why many jurisdictions have replaced it with comparative negligence.