Oregon’s Comparative Negligence Rule

Oregon’s comparative negligence rule is an important legal concept that often comes up in personal injury cases. The rule determines how much fault each party has for a given incident or accident, and helps to decide how much compensation can be obtained from a lawsuit. In Oregon, comparative negligence offers an avenue for plaintiffs to recover damages from a defendant where the plaintiff is partially at fault for the events that led to the injury.

In Oregon, courts apply the modified comparative negligence rule, meaning that a plaintiff can recover damages in certain personal injury cases even if they are found to be as much as 50 percent responsible for their own injuries. The modified comparative negligence rule is thus different from states which follow the “all-or-nothing” approach to negligence, where a plaintiff is entirely denied recovery if they are found even partially at fault.

Under Oregon comparative negligence law, alleging the potential fault of other parties is a key factor in many personal injury cases. It is the responsibility of the injured person, known as the plaintiff, to prove that the defendant was responsible for their injury. In most cases, the defendant will try to show that the plaintiff’s own actions or negligence also contributed to the accident.

If the court or jury finds that the defendant was negligent or partly responsible for the accident, Oregon’s comparative negligence rule allows the plaintiff to be compensated for their damages, even if they were partly at fault. However, the percentage of fault assigned to the plaintiff will be taken into account when deciding what amount of compensation they should be awarded.

For example, if a plaintiff is assigned 40 percent of the fault, they can expect to receive 60 percent of what they would have been eligible to receive had they not been found partly at fault. In other words, their compensation award can still be reduced by the percentage of fault assigned to them.

In addition to determine the amount of compensation a plaintiff may be able to receive, Oregon courts use the modified comparative negligence rule to determine if a plaintiff can even receive compensation. In cases where the plaintiff is found to be more than 50 percent responsible for their injuries, no compensation is awarded.

Ultimately, the application of the comparative negligence rule depends on a court’s determination of each party’s fault in a given personal injury case. If a plaintiff is able to demonstrate that a defendant is at least partly responsible for their injuries, the modified comparative negligence rule of Oregon may still allow them to recover compensation, though the amount they receive may be reduced by the percentage of fault assigned to them.