Ryan Zavodnick | October 19, 2026 | Car Accidents
Can you still get paid if you were partly at fault for a crash in Pennsylvania?
Yes, as long as you were not more than 50 percent responsible. Pennsylvania reduces your recovery by your share of the fault and bars it entirely above that line, which is why insurers argue about percentages so early. A lawyer can tell you whether the percentage being floated in your claim reflects the evidence.
An adjuster who says you were 30 percent at fault has not made a finding. He has made an opening offer with a number attached. Pennsylvania’s comparative negligence rule decides what that number does to your claim, and it is the rule that quietly shapes most car accident settlements in Philadelphia.
How the rule works
The 51 percent bar
Under 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102, a driver whose negligence was not greater than the other side’s can recover. A driver who is more than 50 percent at fault recovers nothing. Everything in a disputed liability case moves around that line, which is why two percentage points can matter more than two thousand dollars in medical bills.
Damages get reduced by your share
Below the bar, the award drops by your percentage. A $200,000 case with 20 percent fault assigned to you pays $160,000. Our resource on Pennsylvania’s contributory fault rules walks through the arithmetic with examples.
Who assigns the percentage
In a settlement, the insurer does, informally and in its own interest. In a lawsuit, the jury does, after hearing evidence. Those two processes produce very different numbers, which is the leverage behind filing suit in a case where liability is being misrepresented.
Where fault percentages come from in a real claim
The police report is a starting point, not a verdict
Officers arrive after the fact and write what they are told. A citation carries weight and is not binding on the civil case, and reports contain errors about direction of travel, lane position and sequence often enough that they should be checked rather than accepted.
Physical evidence usually outranks memory
Crush patterns, debris, final rest positions, skid and yaw marks, and event data recorder downloads describe the crash without an interest in the outcome. In a dispute about who had the light or who crossed the center line, that evidence is what moves a percentage.
The arguments insurers make most often
Speed, following distance, distraction, a sudden lane change, and failure to avoid. In pedestrian and cyclist cases, the argument shifts to where the person was crossing and what they were wearing. Each of those is answerable with evidence, and each goes unanswered when nobody collects it.
What this means for how you handle your own claim
Be careful what you say in the first week
Apologies at the scene, a recorded statement about how fast you “probably” were going, and social media posts about the day all end up in the file. None of it is fatal, and all of it becomes material for a percentage argument.
Treat consistently and document
A gap in treatment is used to argue that the injury was not serious, which is a damages argument rather than a fault argument, and it lowers the number the percentage gets applied to.
Know what your own coverage does
Medical benefits under your auto policy pay treatment regardless of fault, and your tort election decides separately whether pain and suffering is on the table. That coverage keeps bills moving while liability is disputed, and it is the reason a fault fight does not have to mean no care. Our page on how car insurance works covers the order in which policies pay.
Questions drivers ask about shared fault
The insurer says I was 50 percent at fault, is that final?
No. It is a position taken by a party with an interest in paying less, and it is subject to evidence. Percentages shift regularly once the physical proof and the witness accounts are developed.
I got a ticket, does that mean I lose?
Not by itself. A traffic citation is evidence to argue about rather than a determination of civil liability, and drivers who were cited still recover in Pennsylvania every day.
Two other drivers were involved, how does the split work?
Fault can be apportioned among several parties, and how much each defendant pays depends on the percentages the jury assigns and on rules that limit some defendants to their own share.
Does comparative negligence apply to pedestrians and cyclists?
Yes, the same rule applies, and the same 50 percent line governs whether there is a recovery at all.
How is my percentage of fault actually decided?
In a settlement the insurer assigns it informally and in its own interest. In a lawsuit a jury decides it after hearing the evidence, which is why filing suit is the leverage in a case where liability has been misrepresented.
Get the fault question looked at before you accept a number
Comparative negligence is the quietest way a claim loses value. There is no denial letter, just a percentage applied to an offer, and it rarely gets revisited once a release is signed.
Zavodnick & Lasky Personal Injury Lawyers handle Philadelphia car accident claims on a contingency basis, with the fee coming out of the recovery. Call (215) 875-7030, or read how liability is proven on our Philadelphia car accident liability page and our main car accident page.
