Iowa’s Comparative Negligence Rule

Iowa’s comparative negligence rule is a legal principle used to determine the amount of damages an injured party may be entitled to in a personal injury case. It is based on the idea that both parties to an accident have a responsibility to act in a reasonable, safe manner. This rule seeks to determine how much fault, or “negligence,” each party is responsible for and how that should affect their financial liability for the resulting damages.

Comparative Negligence Facts

The amount of damages a party may receive in Iowa is affected by their degree of negligence. In Iowa, the law is based on the “modified comparative negligence” rule, which means that if you were partly responsible for your own injury, the amount of damages you can recover will be reduced by your percentage of fault.

Under the rule, if a plaintiff is found to be 50 percent or more responsible for their own injury, they cannot recover any damages. However, if the plaintiff is found to be less than 50 percent at fault, then the court will subtract their percentage of fault from the damages awarded. This means that if a plaintiff is found to be 20 percent at fault, the damages they recover will be reduced by 20 percent.

In addition, Iowa courts will consider any and all facts of the case when making a determination of fault, including the levels of care that a reasonable person would have exercised under the same circumstances. If the court finds that both parties acted unreasonably and failed to exercise appropriate care in the circumstances, then they may assign any percentage of fault to each party.

Example of Iowa’s Comparative Negligence Rule

To better understand how Iowa’s modified comparative negligence rule works, here is an example. A small business owner, Joe, has a store in a shopping center. At the same time, a customer, Bill, is walking through the store. Unfortunately, the shopping center is short on sidewalks and the customer slips and falls on a wet floor.

In this case, the court examines the facts to determine the fault of each party. For example, Joe, the business owner, had an obligation to keep his store safe for customers. This includes keeping pathways clear of obstacles and wet surfaces in order to prevent slip and falls. On the other hand, Bill, the customer, is expected to take reasonable care to avoid slipping and falling.

After examining the facts, the court decides that both parties were partially negligent. It determines that Joe is 40 percent responsible for the injury, because he had a duty to keep the store safe, and Bill is 60 percent responsible, because he did not take reasonable care to avoid slipping and falling.

The court then reduces the amount of damages Bill is entitled to recover by 60 percent. If the court awards Bill $10,000 in damages, he would only be able to recover $4,000 after accounting for his percentage of fault.

In conclusion, Iowa has a modified comparative negligence rule, which allows courts to determine the percentage of fault of each party when deciding the amount of damages an injured party can recover in a personal injury suit. The rule states that if a plaintiff is found to be less than 50 percent responsible for their own injuries, their recovery will be reduced by their percentage of fault. Understanding the rule can help ensure that you receive a fair settlement in any lawsuit involving an injury due to negligence.