What is the difference between contributory negligence and comparative negligence?

Contributory negligence and comparative negligence are two legal concepts related to slip and fall cases in Washington. Contributory negligence is an old legal concept that holds that if a plaintiff, or person filing a slip and fall lawsuit, is at all responsible for the incident, they are barred from recovering damages. In other words, even if a defendant (the person being sued) is mostly responsible, if the plaintiff shoulders any of the blame, they are not allowed to collect damages. In contrast, comparative negligence is a more modern legal concept that allows for a plaintiff to recover damages even if they are partially responsible for the accident. In Washington, the court will determine an amount of negligence to each party involved and use that to calculate damages. For example, if the court decided that the plaintiff was 20% responsible for the incident, then any damages that are awarded would be reduced by 20%. Comparative negligence is used in Washington to determine outcomes for slip and fall cases, instead of the more restrictive contributory negligence. This allows for plaintiffs to recover a portion of their damages, even if they contributed to the incident.

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What is the difference between contributory negligence and comparative negligence?

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