Comparative negligence rules in Vermont

If another driver hit you in Vermont, one number can change how much you recover: your own share of the blame. Vermont weighs how the fault splits between everyone involved and then adjusts your compensation to match. Being partly at fault doesn't automatically end your claim, but past a certain point it does.

The rule that controls this is short, and it lives in a single statute. Here is what it actually says and how it plays out after a real crash.

The 51 percent bar, in plain terms

Vermont follows what lawyers call modified comparative negligence. Under 12 V.S.A. § 1036, your own negligence "shall not bar recovery" as long as it "was not greater than the causal total negligence of the defendant or defendants."¹ You can be partly to blame and still collect, but only up to a point. If your share of the fault is 50 percent or less, you recover. If it reaches 51 percent or more, you recover nothing. That cutoff is why people call it the "51 percent bar."

When you are allowed to recover, the same statute reduces your award "in proportion to the amount of negligence attributed to" you.¹ The math is direct. Say your crash-related losses come to $100,000. If the factfinder puts 30 percent of the blame on you, that $100,000 becomes $70,000. At 50 percent, you still walk away with $50,000. At 51 percent, the check is zero. The gap between a real recovery and nothing at all is a single percentage point, which is why fault fights in Vermont are rarely casual.

One detail matters at the edge. Because the statute lets you recover when your fault is "not greater than" the other side's, a clean 50/50 split still pays you half. The door only closes once your share climbs past the other side's.¹

How your percentage gets decided

Section 1036 says damages are "diminished by general verdict," which means the percentage is assigned by whoever decides the facts.¹ At trial, that's the jury, typically answering questions that pin a number on each party. In the far more common settlement track, it's the insurance adjuster building the offer, and you arguing over where the line should fall.

This is why comparative fault shows up in almost every Vermont claim, even the ones that never see a courtroom. An adjuster who can hang 20 or 30 percent of the blame on you trims that much off the payout before real negotiation starts. The police narrative, the crash report, physical evidence at the scene, and witness statements all feed that percentage, so the record built in the first days after a wreck tends to drive the number for months afterward.

When more than one driver is at fault

Multi-car crashes change the arithmetic in a way that trips people up. Your fault is measured against the combined fault of everyone you're suing, not against any single defendant. If you're found 40 percent at fault while two other drivers carry 35 and 25 percent, the defendants' fault totals 60 percent. Your 40 is "not greater than" that 60, so you clear the bar and recover 60 percent of your damages.¹

Collecting is a separate problem. Vermont makes each defendant liable only for "that proportion of the total dollar amount awarded as damages in the ratio of the amount of the defendant's causal negligence to the amount of causal negligence attributed to all defendants."¹ Each at-fault driver pays only their own slice. You can't force the 35 percent driver to cover the 25 percent driver's share. If one of them is uninsured or carries a thin policy, that portion of your award can simply go unpaid. That gap is where your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage becomes the backstop.

The one exception the statute carves out

The comparative negligence defense reaches ordinary negligence claims, car crashes included, with a single carve-out. Effective April 22, 2024, the Legislature amended § 1036 to bar contributory and comparative negligence as a defense in a negligence claim "relating to a sexual act ... or sexual conduct."² In a motor-vehicle case that exception won't apply, and your percentage of fault stays on the table.

Fault, insurance, and the size of the check

Vermont is an at-fault (tort) state, not a no-fault state.³ You pursue the driver who caused the crash and their liability insurer, and comparative negligence rides along on each of those claims. Because it does, the coverage behind the other driver matters as much as the fault split.

Vermont's minimum liability limits are 25/50/10: $25,000 for one person's bodily injury, $50,000 per crash for bodily injury, and $10,000 for property damage.⁴ Those floors are low against a serious injury. When the at-fault driver is underinsured or takes off, your own policy fills the gap. Vermont requires uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage of at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per crash unless you rejected it in writing, and that coverage has to match higher liability limits if you carry them.⁵ If a drunk driver caused the crash, Vermont's dram shop law can add a defendant: an injured person may sue a licensee that served alcohol to a minor, after legal serving hours, or to a visibly intoxicated patron.⁶

Your percentage eats into property claims too, not only injury claims. The same reduction applies to vehicle damage, including a diminished value claim, so a shared-fault finding trims what you get for the car as well. And if a government vehicle or a road-maintenance decision is part of the crash, know that suits against the State of Vermont carry a damages cap of $500,000 per person and $2 million per occurrence, a limit that does not exist in an ordinary case against a private driver.⁷

The clock is three years, and fault disputes make it tighter

Vermont gives you three years from the crash to sue for personal injuries under 12 V.S.A. § 512(4), and the same three years for property damage under § 512(5).⁸ The clock can pause for a minor, for someone legally incapacitated, or for a defendant who leaves the state, but treat three years as the outer wall, not a plan.

Comparative fault is a reason to move well before that wall. The percentage an insurer assigns you comes from evidence that decays fast: the scene changes, memories blur, and vehicles get repaired or scrapped. The official Vermont crash report is part of that record.⁹ When liability looks contested, it pays to talk with a lawyer early; you can find one through the legal directory.

This article is general information about Vermont law, not legal advice.

Sources

1. 12 V.S.A. § 1036 (Comparative negligence), Vermont Statutes Online. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/12/027/01036

2. 2023 Acts and Resolves No. 90 (S.278), amending 12 V.S.A. § 1036, effective April 22, 2024, Vermont General Assembly. https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/Docs/ACTS/ACT090/ACT090%20As%20Enacted.pdf

3. Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Insurance Requirements. https://dmv.vermont.gov/enforcement-and-safety/laws/insurance

4. 23 V.S.A. § 800 (Maintenance of financial responsibility; minimum liability limits), Vermont Statutes Online. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/011/00800

5. 23 V.S.A. § 941 (Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage), Vermont Statutes Online. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/011/00941

6. 7 V.S.A. § 501 (Dram shop liability), Vermont Statutes Online. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/07/017/00501

7. 12 V.S.A. § 5601 (Liability of the State; limits on damages), Vermont Statutes Online. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/12/189/05601

8. 12 V.S.A. § 512 (Limitation of actions; injuries to person or property), Vermont Statutes Online. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/12/023/00512

9. Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Crashes. https://dmv.vermont.gov/enforcement-and-safety/laws/crashes