Texas follows the modified comparative negligence rule, meaning if a claimant is 51 percent or more at fault for their own injuries, they are unable to recover compensation. If they are 50 percent or less at fault than the defendant, they can recover a reduced award.
For example, if the defendant was found 80 percent at-fault by the jury, and the plaintiff was found 20 percent at-fault, under the modified comparative negligence statute, the jury would then find the total amount of damages, and then the judge would reduce the judgment by the percent fault of the plaintiff. If the total damage amount was $100,000.00, but they claimant is 20 percent responsible, then the judge would reduce that verdict down to $80,000.00.
Now, it gets more complicated when there are multiple defendants. There is a unique area of Texas law called joint and several liability, and it can make defendants responsible for more than just their amount of responsibility found by the jury if they are found to be more than 50 percent at-fault.
For instance, if there are two defendants and one is found to be 20 percent responsible and the other defendant is found to be 80 percent at-fault, and the plaintiff is found to be zero percent at fault, under Chapter 33 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, the defendant who was more responsible would have to pay all of the damages. That defendant would then have a claim against the co-defendant for their portion of the damage claim.