After a car accident in Massachusetts, a jury may have to divide the blame in numbers. The state’s model jury instruction tells jurors to “determine the percentage that the plaintiff was negligent,” and then the percentage for each defendant. “The combined total of the negligence of the plaintiff and (defendant) (defendants) must equal 100 percent.”
The person who sued then receives damages reduced by his or her own share of the fault. A plaintiff found more than 50 percent at fault “will recover nothing.” This rule is called comparative negligence.