Crash Course: What is “joint and several liability”?

Life is complicated. That’s why oftentimes, more than one person’s negligent actions are responsible for your injuries.

Who’s responsible, and for how much? 

The answer varies from state to state. As an example, some states literally assign percentages of responsibility.  A jury renders a verdict, finding what percentage each defendant’s negligent action contributed to your injury.  Under a “pure contribution” system, the law requires each defendant to pay their percentage of the injured person’s damages.   

This makes logical sense at first and might seem fundamentally fair, but look at it in practice…  

Let’s say we have a defendant who’s responsible for an accident. He doesn’t have a lot of resources, and he was too cheap to buy enough insurance. What if another defendant — a less negligent defendant — has more assets? Maybe a large insurance policy?

To complicate things further, what if the injured party is severely hurt or even dies, leaving behind a family?  Is it fair for a victim or his family to be deprived of justice because a driver didn’t buy enough insurance before hitting the road?  

Here’s how Massachusetts solves the problem: “joint and several liability.”  

An injured person can enforce all of their damages against any defendant found to be responsible for an injury, even if a jury finds they contributed only 20% (or 1%!).

Remember that the injured person can’t control who’s at fault. Imposing a burden on a negligent defendant is fairer than making the victim suffer more just because he’s trying to be compensated for an injury.

The other reason is liability insurance. Insurance companies spread their risk across millions of insured companies that haven’t caused injuries, so a personal injury settlement is a drop in the bucket. This way, nobody carries too much of a burden.   

Insurance companies don’t like this doctrine, and neither do about half the states in this country. That’s why insurers have lobbied state legislatures to “reform” the doctrine — so far, Massachusetts has withstood these challenges.

If you’re injured, the last thing you want to think about is whether more than one person is responsible and what their percentage of responsibility is. We get it.

Just remember that factors like these can change the entire strategy of a case.

Are you dealing with issues like these? Call our office today.