tigger22472
Senior Member
What is the name of your state? Indiana
I have a question about this. I understand under this law if a plaintiff is 51% or more at fault then they cannot recover. I understand this, and most understand this but the courts in my area have been known to not follow this and lets it be overturned on appeal. See Hockema v. J.S., 832 N.E.2d 537 (The plaintiff was found 69% (I believe) at fault and although the jury correctly awarded the plaintiff nothing, the judge felt that wasn't correct and ordered the defendant to pay the 31%. This was overturned on appeal)
A new case has come lately that was ruled on and I have question. A man and his wife sued a local utility company after he was injured after diving into a lake from the deck of his parents' home. They sued stating there was a pipe under the water and no warning. The courts found the husband 50% at fault... and assessed that his parents were 30% at fault even though they were not party to the suit. I realize that in order to not recover when there is one plaintiff he would have had to been 51% or more at fault. However, it was still basically determined that the defendant was less than 50% at fault. The case settled with the plaintiff recovering X amount as well as his wife receiving another amount (based on percentages) for things like lack of companionship or something like that.
Based on that does it sound as if it was assessed right?
I have a question about this. I understand under this law if a plaintiff is 51% or more at fault then they cannot recover. I understand this, and most understand this but the courts in my area have been known to not follow this and lets it be overturned on appeal. See Hockema v. J.S., 832 N.E.2d 537 (The plaintiff was found 69% (I believe) at fault and although the jury correctly awarded the plaintiff nothing, the judge felt that wasn't correct and ordered the defendant to pay the 31%. This was overturned on appeal)
A new case has come lately that was ruled on and I have question. A man and his wife sued a local utility company after he was injured after diving into a lake from the deck of his parents' home. They sued stating there was a pipe under the water and no warning. The courts found the husband 50% at fault... and assessed that his parents were 30% at fault even though they were not party to the suit. I realize that in order to not recover when there is one plaintiff he would have had to been 51% or more at fault. However, it was still basically determined that the defendant was less than 50% at fault. The case settled with the plaintiff recovering X amount as well as his wife receiving another amount (based on percentages) for things like lack of companionship or something like that.
Based on that does it sound as if it was assessed right?