Partial Fault Premises Liability Claim

Answer:

Sometimes people blame themselves. They may have gone in a door, seen the dangerous hazard, and then not thought about it on the way out and tripped over it. It’s important to understand in these cases that both the victim and the premises can be at fault. In Wyoming, we have a thing called comparative fault, by which we compare the fault of the various parties to determine who’s most at fault. If you’re more than 50% at fault, then you cannot recover. The law is you can’t recover, but if you’re 49% at fault and the other party’s 51% at fault, you can recover 51% of your damage.

I actually had that happen in a jury trial, a construction and slip and fall case. In that case, we had a recovery. The plaintiff had a substantial burn and was seriously injured but was found to be 49% at fault for his own injuries. We were still able to recover 51% of fault against the refinery company for the injury that occurred because of the premises injury. We also got recovery from the subcontractor in the case, too. You can have a recovery. It depends on the circumstances, but you can be partially at fault. Now, if you see that there’s substantial fault on the party, we may consider not taking that case, but we have to look at every case individually. We’ll be happy to take a look at yours. Give us call at my office in Cheyenne.