Personal injury guide
Who Is at Fault in a Car Accident
In California, fault is divided by percentage. Each driver’s recovery is reduced by their share of the blame, even if they were mostly at fault.
The short answer
Fault can be shared
In California, fault for a car crash is not all or nothing. An insurance company, an arbitrator, or a jury can divide responsibility between the drivers by percentage, and each person’s recovery is adjusted to match.
That rule, called pure comparative fault, means you can recover damages even if you were partly to blame. If you were 20 percent at fault, your recovery is reduced by 20 percent.
Because every percentage point is money, insurance companies work hard to shift blame. The evidence gathered early, and the traffic rules that apply to the crash, often decide how fault is divided.
Fault also affects which insurance pays. The at-fault driver’s liability coverage pays the people that driver hurt, while each driver’s own policy may cover some of their own losses no matter who was at fault.
This guide explains how fault is decided and how it usually plays out in the most common types of California crashes.
1. How comparative fault works
Suppose your damages total $100,000 and you are found 25 percent at fault. You can recover $75,000. The same rule applies when more than two parties share responsibility, such as a second driver, a trucking company, or a public agency responsible for a dangerous road.
Comparative fault also works in reverse. A driver who was mostly at fault may still recover the share of damages caused by the other driver.
2. Who decides fault
In most claims, fault is negotiated between insurance companies and lawyers. The police report carries weight in those talks, but the officer’s opinion about fault is not the final word.
If the parties cannot agree, a jury decides fault in a lawsuit. In an uninsured motorist claim, an arbitrator usually decides.
3. Traffic laws and fault
A driver who breaks a traffic safety law and causes the kind of harm that law was meant to prevent can be presumed negligent. Common examples include:
Speeding or driving too fast for conditions
Running a red light or stop sign
Following too closely
Failing to yield the right of way
Using a handheld phone while driving
Driving under the influence
4. Rear-end crashes
California law requires drivers to leave a reasonable and prudent distance from the car ahead. When one car hits another from behind, the rear driver is usually found at fault.
There are exceptions. The front driver may share fault if they cut in suddenly and braked, had no working brake lights, or reversed into the car behind.
5. Left turns
A driver turning left must yield to oncoming traffic that is close enough to be a hazard. For that reason, the left-turning driver is often found at fault.
The oncoming driver can share fault, for example by speeding, running a red light, or entering the intersection when it was unsafe to do so.
6. Intersections and signals
Red-light disputes often come down to witnesses, video, and signal timing records. At a four-way stop, the first driver to arrive goes first, and when two drivers arrive at the same time, the driver on the left yields to the driver on the right.
7. Lane changes and merging
A driver must not change lanes until the move can be made safely. Sideswipes and freeway merging crashes often turn on where the damage is on each car, which shows which vehicle moved into the other.
8. Motorcycles and lane splitting
Lane splitting is legal in California. It does not make a rider automatically at fault. The question is whether the rider and the drivers around them acted safely given the speed and traffic. A driver who changes lanes without checking may be at fault even when the motorcycle was splitting lanes.
9. The evidence that settles fault
Photos of the vehicles, the damage, and where they came to rest
Video from dash cameras, businesses, buses, and doorbell cameras
Witness names and statements
The police report and any diagram
Vehicle data recorders, which can show speed and braking
Much of this evidence disappears within days. We move quickly to preserve it. For the first steps at the scene, see what to do after a car accident.
Talk with us
Montanez Yu represents people injured in car accidents, pedestrian and bicycle accidents, dog bites, and slips and falls throughout Southern California. Consultations are free. No fee and no costs unless we recover. Call (951) 444-7407 or request a free consultation, and we will look at how fault is likely to be divided in your crash.
This guide is general information about California law, not legal advice for your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.