There are some cases where the defendant in a personal injury claim is 100 percent at fault. However, there are a lot of cases where the victim and the defendant are both at fault. Ohio's contributory fault law addresses this situation (Ohio Revised Code 2315.33). It states that injury victims are prohibited from recovering compensation if they are more than 50 percent at fault. If the victim's percentage of fault is below 50 percent, he or she can recover compensation, but it will be reduced by his or her percentage of fault. This means that a $50,000 compensation award would become $40,000 if you are 20 percent at fault for your injuries.
