Pennsylvania decided long ago that crashes are rarely one person’s doing — and built its recovery rule around percentages. The doctrine is called modified comparative negligence, and its two moving parts decide real dollars: whether you can recover at all, and how much of your recovery survives.
The Two Rules
- The 51% bar. You recover only if your share of fault doesn’t exceed 50%. At 51%, recovery ends — which is why insurers love nudging your percentage upward.
- Proportional reduction. Your damages shrink by your percentage: 20% at fault on $100,000 of damages recovers $80,000.
Where the Percentages Come From
Nowhere scientific — they’re argued, from the evidence our fault-determination post catalogs: physical reconstruction, code violations, video, testimony. In settlement, percentages are negotiated; at trial, the jury assigns them. Either way, the difference between 20% and 40% is real money, which makes the fault fight worth having with evidence rather than conceding on an adjuster’s phone call.
Beyond Two Drivers
Multi-party crashes allocate across everyone — multiple defendants mean multiple shares and multiple policies. The doctrine also reaches slip and fall cases (“you should have watched where you were going” is a comparative-fault argument, not a defense), bicycle and pedestrian cases — with children judged by age-appropriate standards, and Pennsylvania’s historical alternative, contributory negligence, surviving only as context.
Frequently Asked Questions
The adjuster says I’m 60% at fault so they owe nothing. Final?
It’s an opening position dressed as a finding. Percentages get moved by evidence constantly — never accept a bar-crossing number without independent analysis.
I was speeding slightly when they ran the stop sign. Do I lose?
Almost certainly not — minor speed against a right-of-way violation typically leaves you well under the bar, with a modest reduction at most. The math favors the party with the smaller violation.
Does comparative negligence apply to my passenger?
Passengers are rarely assigned fault — they typically recover from whichever drivers were negligent, making them the cleanest claimants in most crashes.
Questions about your own crash? Call (215) 464-4600 or contact us online — free, confidential consultations, contingency-fee representation.