What pure comparative fault means
If a jury decides your damages are $100,000 and that you were 30% responsible, you recover $70,000. If they decide you were 80% responsible, you recover $20,000.
This is more generous than many states, where being 51% at fault bars recovery entirely. In California there is no cut-off — the reduction is simply proportional all the way up.
Who decides the percentage
Ultimately a jury, if the case goes that far. In practice, an adjuster's initial assessment of fault sets the tone for the entire negotiation, and that assessment is an opening position rather than a finding.
Early fault assessments are often based on very little: a police report narrative, a recorded statement taken while you were still shaken, and the other driver's account. All three are challengeable.
Where fault percentages come from in practice
Physical evidence, independent witnesses, and any contemporaneous record. This is why photographs taken at the scene are worth more than any argument made months later, and why our timeline worksheet asks for detail that seems irrelevant at the time.
Do not concede fault to be polite
Saying “I'm sorry, I didn't see you” at the scene is a human reflex and it will be quoted back to you. Check on people, exchange details, and leave the analysis of who did what to the investigation.
Photograph everything before vehicles move
Position, damage, road conditions, signage, sightlines. Ten photographs at the scene beat any later reconstruction.
Get independent witness details
Not the other party's passengers. Names and phone numbers — statements can be taken later.
Decline to give a recorded statement immediately
You are not obliged to give one to the other side's insurer, and doing so before you have the police report rarely helps you.
Write your own account within 48 hours
Memory for sequence degrades quickly and specifically.