This is called the doctrine of contributory negligence. Other states employ the less harsh rule of comparative negligence. In these states, the amount of your compensation is reduced in proportion to the extent of your own fault. For example, if your carelessness contributed 30 percent to the accident, you can only recover 70 percent of your damages from the other driver. After determining fault, the second step is calculating damages.
Damages are the economic, property or health-related losses caused by the accident.
If someone hit your new car and broke your arm, your damages might include the cost of repairing your car, the depreciation in the value of the car after it is repaired, the cost of renting another car while yours is in the shop, the medical expenses for treating your arm, gas mileage for trips to the doctor, the value of the physical pain and mental suffering caused by a fractured bone and reimbursement for lost time from work. Damages are often just as hotly contested as fault. A negligent driver might defend herself by insisting that the plaintiff broke his arm before the accident. To help prove this, she might subpoena past medical records, interview physicians, hire expert witnesses, and get a court order for the plaintiff to be examined by an independent doctor. Or she might contest the amount of damages.