In Washington, DC, if you were found to have contributed even the smallest amount to the accident, your insurance company will deny your claim under the contributory negligence rule. According to contributory negligence, if you were found even partially at fault for the accident, you will not be able to collect damages.
For example, you get into a car accident with a drunk driver. The other driver hit your car head-on, causing severe injuries. However, at the time of the accident, it was revealed that you were responding to a text message and not paying attention to the road. Even though the drunk driver is at fault, you were assigned some fault because you were distracted at the time of the accident and therefore will have trouble collecting compensation for your injuries.
That’s why it’s important to speak with a DC personal injury attorney as soon as possible after any accident, to learn what options are available to you.