The State of South Carolina recognizes comparative negligence. This requires a jury to compare the negligence of two parties involved in an accident, with the victim’s damages reduced by the percentage of the victim’s fault so long as the victim is not MORE at fault than person against whom they are bringing the claim.
Transcript
Another question we get a great deal of here Holland & Usry is “can I still recover if I was partially at fault for the accident I was in?” The answer is possibly.
The law says that the amount of damages you would receive should be reduced by the amount that you're at fault. It’s called comparative negligence, it works like this. Let’s say a jury awards you one hundred thousand dollars but finds of you are twenty five percent at fault. The judge will reduce your award by twenty-five percent or $25,000 leaving you with 75,000. Well, there's a catch. If you are found to be more than fifty percent at fault you do not recover anything, which makes sense because your own fault than anyone else for the accident.
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