H. Stanley Harris, P.C.
130-A North McDowell Street
Charlotte, NC 28204-2268
Phone: 704-334-5600
Fax: 704-334-1654
The Need For A Comparative Fault Law In North Carolina
Most people are shocked to find out that North Carolina is one of only four states in the Union that continues to use a contributory negligence system of tort law in the United States. A large section of the populace of the State of North Carolina is oblivious to the fact that this state continues to use a contributory negligence law system until such time as one of those individuals is involved in a claim against another for a negligent injury inflicted upon that person by the other. Many citizens believe that a person who is injured in, say, an automobile wreck caused by the negligence of another party will automatically be compensated for their injuries, damages, losses, pain and suffering, and other expenditures by simply calling up the insurance company for the negligent party to make a claim. However, what most people in the state do not understand is that automobile liability insurance carriers are not in the business of paying valid claims; insurance companies are in the business of collecting insurance premiums, and only paying out on claims that they cannot legally get away with not paying.
To give an example of how North Carolina contributory negligence law operates, the following scenario will show the inequities of North Carolina’s law to an injured victim. First, lets say that your 17 year old child is driving her automobile to her senior year in high school approximately 2 miles from your house. Assume that there is a busy intersection between your house and her high school controlled by a traffic light. Also assume that as your child is approaching that traffic light one morning, her light turns green just before she reaches the intersection. Also assume that a large delivery truck is operating on the intersecting roadway, and the driver of the large delivery truck runs a red light facing him because he is looking for an address on his paperwork rather than watching the roadway and traffic light ahead of him. Assume that your child enters the intersection on a steady green light, and that the delivery truck slams into the side of your daughter’s car thereby severely injuring her. Assume that your daughter suffers broken bones in her left leg, left arm, ribs, and the cheek and eye socket of her left eye. Assume also that your daughter will have to undergo several surgeries to repair the broken bones and facial fractures, and that she suffers a severe concussion from her head hitting the side post of her car when it is slammed into by the large delivery truck. Additionally, assume that she has $150,000.00 worth of medical expenses, eight months of wage loss from her part time after school job, and that she is forced to miss a great deal of time from her senior year in high school which results in the lowering of her previously stellar grades to mediocre status. Also assume that because of her missed time from school, her lower grades, and her concussion, she is unable to take and adequately complete the college board tests in order to apply for many colleges which she was previously well qualified to attend.
Many citizens of North Carolina would assume that there is clear cut liability in this situation, and that your child would be properly compensated for her pain, suffering, mental anguish, medical expenses, lost wages, permanent injuries, loss of future job prospects, and other damages emanating from this wreck. However, those many North Carolinians would be absolutely wrong.
Assume that the large delivery truck ran the red light, but if the truck driver or a witness to the accident indicated that your daughter entered the intersection without looking out for her own safety, that she was traveling at a speed in excess of the speed reasonable for the conditions then and there existing, or that your daughter told the police officer that she was driving along with the green light and all of a sudden she “looked up” to see the truck bearing down on her just before the collision occurred, your child would possibly be deemed to have contributed to her own injury thereby falling victim to the contributory negligence law. Under the current law of the State of North Carolina, anyone who contributes to their own injury, even as little as one percent (1%) contribution to her own injury, is barred from recovering anything under the law of the State of North Carolina as it currently exists.
Based on these facts, the insurance company for the delivery truck will hire a lawyer or lawyers to create doubt in the minds of the jurors that your daughter was not completely acting in her own best interest in looking out after her own safety, and thereby contributed to her own injuries by being somewhat responsible for this collision resulting in her not being able to recover anything for her injuries and other damages under the law of the State of North Carolina. That is a very severe result for a 17 year old who was simply minding her own business while driving herself to school one morning.
The solution to this very heinous law in the State of North Carolina is a comparative negligence bill which is currently before the North Carolina Senate as Senate Bill 679. This Bill has already passed the North Carolina House of Representatives, and is awaiting action by the North Carolina Senate to alleviate the harsh conditions of the North Carolina contributory negligence law. If Senate Bill 679 is passed, and signed by the Governor, it will change contributory negligence to comparative negligence in the State of North Carolina. The comparative negligence law will then state that as long as a person is less negligent than all of the other negligent parties combined, then the injured party would be allowed to recover for her injuries in a negligence action less the percentage of her damages that she contributed to by her own negligence. In other words, in our example above, if a jury returned a verdict for $300,000.00, and found that the injured party was only responsible for five percent (5%) of her damages, then the negligent party would be responsible for the other ninety-five percent (95%) of her damages for a total of $285,000.00. The result under the comparative negligence law would be much more fair in returning a reasonable verdict for the injured party than the current contributory negligence law which would completely wipe out any recovery by the injured party no matter how small her amount of contributory negligence would be determined to exist.
In conclusion, it is in the best interest of all North Carolina citizens that North Carolina adopt a comparative negligence law to replace the outdated contributory negligence law which now exists in the State of North Carolina. Therefore, all citizens of North Carolina should contact their elected state senators to voice their consent and approval of the passage of the comparative negligence law contained in Senate Bill 679 currently before the North Carolina State Senate for action.