I was recently involved in an accident, and certainly bear some, if not most, of the responsibilty for the accident. Does that mean that I cannot recover damages for my personal injuries?
Generally speaking, the answer is no. New York is a comparative negligence state, which means that each party to an accident (with certain exceptions that are set forth in Articles 14 and 16 of the Civil Practice Law & Rules) is obligated to pay for their pro rata share of fault for the accident. A prime example of this principle is illustrated in our blog post about How a Brooklyn Subway Accident Victim Won $7 Million - Even Though He Was Largely At Fault For His Own Accident, where a plaintiff recovered significant damages for his personal injuries after a subway train hit him even though he was only on the subway tracks to begin with because he was heavily inebriated and/or intoxicated.
Non-Compete, Trade Secret, Unfair Competition and School Negligence Lawyer