Contributory Negligence

Contributory negligence is a common law defense to a claim based on negligence, an action in tort.  It applies to cases where plaintiffs have, through their own negligence, contributed to cause the damages they incurred as a result of defendants’ negligence.  Maryland is one of five states who adhere to the theory of contributory negligence.  No matter how small the negligence on the part of the injured party (plaintiff), (i.e. 1%) this would cause the plaintiff to lose their case in a court of law against a defendant who was extremely negligent.  This is commonly used by the defense attorney in arguments against the plaintiff with the burden of proof being on the plaintiff.  An example of this would be if a driver runs a stop sign and hits the plaintiff.  If the defense attorney successfully argues that the plaintiff was exceeding the speed limit and had a hard time stopping then the plaintiff is considered negligent and will lose their case.  They get nothing.  Maryland Court of Appeals also has the “last clear chance doctrine”.  This means that when the plaintiff may not have been able to recover, if the plaintiff’s attorney can prove that the defendant had the last chance to avoid the accident then the plaintiff can recover damages.  This doctrine is not often available and takes a skilled and knowledgeable attorney.

Contributory negligence as opposed to comparative negligence is much harsher.  Whereas only five states Washington DC, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey and Alabama, the rest of the fifty states adhere to the comparative negligence theory.  The difference in these two theories is that comparative negligence reduces rather than removes the damages a plaintiff receives.  If the jury finds the plaintiff partially negligent, the award is simply reduced depending on the degree to which the jury finds the plaintiff negligent.  However, there are also variants on this doctrine also in as much as the law states that the plaintiff may recover only if the negligence is less than 50% of the combined negligence or the plaintiff’s negligence is not greater than the defendant’s.

This doctrine of contributory negligence makes it incredibly difficult for lawyers to recover damages due the plaintiff.  This is why it is very important to make sure you have a legal team skilled and experienced in handling these types of cases.

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