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It is often said, rightly, that the defense of contributory negligence "The dream of an insurance company" and "applicant worst nightmare." Under the common law doctrine of contributory negligence, there is no comparison of fault between the perpetrator and the victim. If the injured person is still 1% at fault so to contribute significantly to the cause of the injury, the injured person loses. Technically, it prohibits an injured person to recover a debt, even if another person (the defendant) is 99% responsible for the accident.

For example, say that the defendant was driving on a one way street in the direction wrong, and the plaintiff, a pedestrian walking along the road to being beaten back by the defendant. defendant's insurance company could argue that plaintiff was negligent in walking on the road. Consequently – and probably no real fault of the applicant – the insurance company can claim the plaintiff is guilty contributory negligence and therefore unable to make a recovery, and refuse to pay voluntarily.

Any act of negligence by the applicant is not enough to bar its action, the act of negligence should be a "proximate cause" of injury. The "proximate cause" test is whether the act Negligence is a cause which in natural and continuous, have led to the injury. In practical terms, is an act where the injury not occurred without the act, so that the act "caused the lesion. For example, suppose a driver is traveling 5 miles per hour over the speed limit when another driver runs a stop sign and covered him. It is clear that the act of negligence in the tube five miles too quickly is a proximate cause "of the accident because the accident would have happened anyway.

Only a few states, like Virginia, have contributory fault. Most states have some form of "comparative negligence", where if a person injured also shown negligence, then any recovery they receive is reduced by its share of blame. For example, if an injured person is 1% in the case of blame their injuries and their recovery or the award is reduced by 1%. In Virginia and other states, contributory negligence, an injured person is 1% at fault, and whose negligence was the proximate cause of his injury, gets nothing.

It has been my experience after working on both sides of the fence – an insurance company and for the wounded – in the last 39 years, if there are any tips that you give to a person injured in an application, would not give a recorded or signed statement of an insurance expert. An interview or a signed statement should be sufficient for the insurance company and at the same time to protect your rights if attempt by the insurance company deny your request based on contributory negligence.

As a rule of contributory negligence, Virginia, when a person is a injury could take the advice of a lawyer more than the comparative negligence states. An expert is a paid professional whose job is to ensure an award of costs the insurance company as possible. Usually this means for the wounded to get as little as possible. contributory negligence is a way to experts can try to reject an application. Sometimes, as an injured person used to describe the accident can help an intelligent control to reject the claim.

Bill Bootwright is a claims consultant in the Mechanicsville branch of the personal injury law firm of Allen and Allen. A former insurance adjuster, Bill works under the supervision of Richmond personal injury attorney Christopher A. Meyers to assist clients with their personal injury claims.

Steven Long Auto Accident Lawyer Birmingham, AL 2010.mov

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