Joint and several liability is important in personal injury actions and was created to protect the injured. Two elements need to exist for joint and several liability to apply: (1) negligent cause of action, and (2) two or more defendants. Under joint and several liability, each defendant is jointly responsible for all economic damages awarded in favor of the plaintiff, regardless of the percentage of fault found against any particular defendant. What does this mean and why is it important?
Here is an example:
* A pedestrian is struck by a motorist while crossing the street. She has $100,000 in medical bills and lost income. Medical bills and lost income are called economic damages because they are objectively verifiable monetary losses. Hence, she has $100,000 in economic damages. The pedestrian sues the motorist and the City where the accident occurred for failing to place a streetlight at the intersection.
At trial, the jury allocates 99 percent of fault to the motorist and one percent of fault to the City. However, the motorist is uninsured. Is the pedestrian out of luck? No, because joint and several liability applies in this scenario. Because the City was also found to be at fault, it is jointly liable for all of the pedestrian’s economic damages. This means that the City is also responsible for all of the pedestrian’s economic damages, totaling $100,000.
However, the City is not jointly liable for the pedestrian’s non-economic damages, which are subjective, non-monetary losses, such as pain and suffering. Instead, it is liable only for the amount of non-economic damages allocated to it in direct proportion to the City’s percentage of fault. Hence, if the jury awards the pedestrian general damages of $100,000 for pain and suffering, the City is only responsible for one percent or $1,000 of the general damages.
Experienced attorneys often use joint and several liability to their advantage when litigating cases against parties claiming limited liability. Hence, if you are involved in a lawsuit with multiple defendants and have high economic damages, the services of an attorney become invaluable. This article strictly talks about California law. Laws in other states may differ. This article is for educational purposes only and is not meant to serve as legal advice. You should always contact an attorney to discuss any legal matter.
For more information, please call Mason Rashtian of The Mason Law Firm, 27240 Turnberry Lane, #200 in Valencia, at 661-362-0805.