The defense in almost every injury case says the same thing: you were partly to blame. In Texas that is not the end of the case. It is a math problem.
Texas uses what the law calls proportionate responsibility. A jury assigns a percentage of fault to everyone involved, the defendant, the injured person, sometimes others. The injured person's recovery is then reduced by their own share. Twenty percent at fault means twenty percent less.
But there is a cliff, and it sits at one number. If the injured person is found more than fifty percent responsible, they recover nothing. Fifty percent or less, and the claim survives, reduced. More than fifty, and it is gone. That single line, just past half, is where a great many cases are won and lost.
That is why the fight over percentages is the real fight. The defense does not need to prove the injured person caused the whole thing. It only needs to push them across the line. And it is why a careless concession, an apology, a draft that accepts too much blame, can be worth more to the defense than any witness they call.
Comparative fault is not a gate that a little blame slams shut. It is a scale. Know where the line sits, keep your client on the right side of it, and fight for every point, because in Texas the points are the case.
Texas proportionate responsibility is governed by Chapter 33 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, including the rule that bars recovery when a claimant’s responsibility is greater than fifty percent. This is general information, not legal advice.
