Opinion ID: 1116987
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Whether Recovery is Barred by Sonya's Contributory Negligence

Text: Civil Code Article 2323 (1980) provides: When contributory negligence is applicable to a claim for damages, its effect shall be as follows: If a person suffers injury, death or loss as the result partly of his own negligence and partly as a result of the fault of another person or persons, the claim for damages shall not thereby be defeated, but the amount of damages recoverable shall be reduced in proportion to the degree or percentage of negligence attributable to the person suffering the injury, death or loss. In view of the clear mandate of Civil Code Article 2323 (1980), there is no basis in law for barring rather than reducing Sonya's recovery. Under the circumstances of this case, barring Sonya's recovery would be tantamount either to resurrecting the legislatively abrogated doctrine of contributory negligence or to concluding that the bus driver owed Sonya no duty, a proposition which we must reject for the reasons advanced above.