A rule that reduces damages by each side's share of fault.

"Reduces damages" is the part people often get wrong. Being partly at fault does not automatically bar recovery. If someone else also caused the crash, fall, or other injury, a court or insurer can assign percentages of blame and then cut the payout by that percentage. "Each side's share of fault" means responsibility is divided, not treated as all-or-nothing. In a snowy I-81 pileup, for example, one driver may have been speeding while another followed too closely. Both can be negligent at the same time.

For an injury claim, that split matters because defense lawyers and insurance adjusters use it to shrink what they pay. Bad advice says that if you made any mistake, you have no case. That is flatly wrong in New York. Under CPLR 1411 (New York's pure comparative negligence rule), a person's own negligence does not block recovery; it only diminishes damages in proportion to fault. Even someone found 90% at fault can still recover 10% from another liable party.

That can change settlement value fast, especially when the injuries are serious enough for treatment at a Level I trauma center like Bellevue. Comparative negligence often overlaps with liability, causation, and insurance disputes, and it can shape trial strategy, settlement talks, and whether a claim is worth pursuing at all.