Understanding California's Comparative Negligence Rule

One of the most common questions we hear is some version of: "I think I was partly at fault — can I still get compensation?" In California, the answer is very often yes, because of a rule called pure comparative negligence.

What "Pure Comparative Negligence" Means

Under California law (established in the 1975 California Supreme Court case Li v. Yellow Cab Co.), an injured person’s compensation is reduced by their own percentage of fault, rather than being eliminated entirely. If a jury or insurance adjuster determines you were 20% at fault for an accident and your total damages are $100,000, you could still recover $80,000.

This is different from the rule in some other states, where a plaintiff who is more than 50% (or in some states, 51%) at fault recovers nothing at all. California has no such cutoff — even someone found 90% at fault can still recover the remaining 10% of their damages, though in practice, a high fault percentage significantly affects both strategy and settlement value.

How Fault Gets Decided

Fault isn’t usually a simple yes-or-no determination. It’s based on the physical evidence (vehicle damage, skid marks, the police report), witness statements, traffic law, and sometimes expert accident reconstruction. Insurance adjusters have a financial incentive to assign you a higher percentage of fault, because it directly reduces what they owe. This is one reason the insurance company’s initial assessment of fault shouldn’t be taken as the final word.

Why This Matters Practically

If an insurance adjuster tells you that you were "mostly at fault" and therefore aren’t entitled to anything, that’s often not accurate under California law — you may still have a valid claim for your share of the damages. It’s worth having the fault determination reviewed independently rather than accepting the insurer’s first position.

This article is general information about California law, not a legal opinion about your specific accident. Every case turns on its own facts.