US peace groups file constitutional challenge to Iraq war
Wednesday, May 14, 2008

[JURIST] A coalition of anti-war activists represented by the Constitutional Law Clinic at Rutgers University Law School-Newark [academic website] Tuesday filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; press release, PDF] in US District Court for New Jersey seeking a declaratory judgment that the war in Iraq ..

Tyco settles securities fraud lawsuit with New Jersey for $73 million
Thursday, May 1, 2008

[JURIST] Tyco International [corporate website] Wednesday reached an agreement with the state of New Jersey to settle a lawsuit [case materials] alleging that insider trading at the company cost the state $100 million in state employee pension funds. Under the settlement terms, Tyco will pay $73 ..

NY appeals court upholds Port Authority negligence verdict in 1993 WTC bombing
Wednesday, April 30, 2008

[JURIST] A New York appeals court has upheld [opinion text] a jury's finding that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was negligent [JURIST report] in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center [BBC backgrounder] by Islamic radicals that killed six and injured 1,000. The jury found in ..

New Jersey high court rules subpoena needed to obtain Internet user records
Monday, April 21, 2008

[JURIST] The New Jersey Supreme Court [official website] Monday ruled [PDF text] that Internet service providers may not turn over users' personal information to police or other agencies unless they obtain a valid grand jury subpoena when the information sought relates to an indictable offense. ..

Parmalat fraud suit against Citigroup can proceed: judge
Tuesday, April 15, 2008

[JURIST] A New Jersey Superior Court judge ruled [PDF text] Tuesday that a $7 billion lawsuit [JURIST report] filed by Italian dairy giant Parmalat SpA [corporate website] against Citigroup [corporate website] could go forward on a claim that Citigroup aided and abetted former Parmalat executives ..

ICE sued over 'illegal' immigration raids
Thursday, April 3, 2008

[JURIST] Law enforcement officials from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [official website] violated the constitutional privacy and due process rights of suspected illegal aliens by raiding their homes [CSJ backgrounder], according to a complaint [PDF text] filed in New Jersey ..

Fort Dix plot accomplice sentenced to 20 months in prison
Monday, March 31, 2008

[JURIST] New Jersey US District Judge Robert Kugler Monday sentenced Albanian Kosovar refugee Agron Abdullahu [criminal complaint, PDF], one of the six men arrested [JURIST report] in May for plotting an attack on New Jersey's Fort Dix [official website], to 20 months in prison. In October 2007, ..

Supreme Court rules for Delaware in state water boundary dispute
Monday, March 31, 2008

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] ruled Monday that New Jersey and Delaware have "overlapping authority" to control "extraordinary" construction projects along the Delaware River. The Court's decision came in New Jersey v. Delaware [Medill case backgrounder; ..

New Jersey civil union law not ensuring rights of same-sex couples: report
Tuesday, February 19, 2008

[JURIST] A New Jersey civil union law has not been able to effectively ensure that same-sex couples receive the same rights and privileges as heterosexual couples because of federal law, according to an official report [PDF text] issued Tuesday by the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission (NJ- ..

Merck settles Medicaid fraud, kickback lawsuits
Friday, February 8, 2008

[JURIST] New Jersey pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck [corporate website] has agreed to pay $671 million to settle claims [press release, PDF] that it defrauded Medicaid and improperly marketed three of its drugs to doctors, federal prosecutors said Thursday. The settlement [PDF text] stems from ..

Fort Dix plot suspects charged with attempted murder
Wednesday, January 16, 2008

[JURIST] Additional charges, including attempted murder, were filed Tuesday against the alleged plotters of an attack on Fort Dix [official website]. The US Attorney for New Jersey declined to say why the attempted murder charge was added, but a grand jury found that there was sufficient evidence ..

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20
Apr

What is Comparative Negligence

New Jersey is one of a number of states which has the comparative negligence law. Under Comparative negligence principles, a plaintiff may still recover for his/her damages so long as his/her negligence contributed to their negligence was not greater than the party or parties against whom recovery is sought (not greater than 50%). However, the damages to which an injured party would be entitled will be reduced by the percentage of negligence attributable to the recovering party. N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1 et. seq. For example, a plaintiff who was 25% at fault would only recover 75% against a responsible defendant. The purpose of the comparative negligence statute was to eliminate the unfairness of the doctrine of contributory negligence which in some states bars any recovery to a plaintiff if his/her own negligence contributed to the injury – regardless of how great or how slight the contributory negligence was.
Comparative negligence is a concept which allows the jury to apportion responsibility for the happening of an accident amongst those who were negligent. Each party has the must prove the negligence of the other party for the jury to consider it. Just like the plaintiff, the injured person, must prove the negligence of the defendant, the defendant in order to reduce or bar the plaintiff’s recovery must prove that the plaintiff was negligent. If the plaintiff’s actions contributed but were not negligent, then there can be no reduction. Often times defendants use the comparative negligence defense as a way to blame the victim regardless of the fact that their actions were reasonable in light of the circumstances.
The defense applies only in those cases in which the defendant can reasonably argue or show the negligence of the plaintiff and that it played a part in incurring the damages.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 20th, 2007 at 1:30 pm and is filed under Trial Issues, Damages Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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