This is the first entry in a four-part series giving educational information on House Bill 813 which is being debated this session on the North Carolina Senate floor. This article gives a short overview about what House Bill 813 is all about. Once a week over the next three weeks, a new entry will be posted about the bill discussing different aspects of its content.

 This is the first entry in a four-part series giving educational information on House Bill 813 which is being debated this session on the North Carolina Senate floor. This article gives a short overview about what House Bill 813 is all about. Once a week over the next three weeks, a new entry will be posted about the bill discussing different aspects of its content.

House Bill 813 is a proposed enactment that will transition North Carolina into a comparative fault jurisdiction, bringing us into the company of 46 other states who already have some form of comparative fault in place. The only other jurisdictions that currently operate under a contributory negligence regime are Virginia, Alabama, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. Comparative fault allocates responsibility among the parties liable in a case involving injury. This is different from our current system where it stands that if person is the slightest bit at fault in an accident (even 1%), he or she cannot recover any damages whatsoever.

The Uniform Apportionment of Tort Responsibility Act (UATRA) is a model bill that was approved by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2002. This bill basically takes the experiences of other states that have enacted a particular form of comparative fault and incorporates the best features of all those jurisdictions into one act. https://askcompetentlawyer.com/ The North Carolina House of Representatives has integrated UATRA into its bill, so if it passes in the Senate without a complete overhaul this session, North Carolina will most likely enact a comparative fault law based on UATRA.

Contributory negligence is seen and viewed by many versed in that area of the law to be outdated. Comparative fault is thought to be more in line with justice and fairness because it proportions the amount of damages to be paid by a person's level of fault. North Carolina Representative Rick Glazier is the sponsor of House Bill 813 and he has stated that the bill would modernize basic tort law in North Carolina.

Next week's article will address the impact on drivers' insurance in North Carolina if House Bill 813 is enacted into law. The articles that will be posted the following two weeks will respectively address the compromises reached in the bill to help meet the needs of both North Carolina drivers and insurance companies, and how the new comparative fault law, if enacted, will function.

For more a more in-depth look at comparative fault in North Carolina see Road to Comparative Fault in North Carolina published by attorney Burton Craige.

Jake Daniel for Hull and Chandler