Defenses and Affirmative Defenses
Liability Defenses
Apportionment assigns each actor a percentage of responsibility totaling one hundred percent. The verdict form asks the jury to allocate, and the court applies the resulting percentages to calculate each party's obligation.
How apportionment translates into payment depends on whether the state applies joint and several liability, several liability, or a hybrid based on fault thresholds.
Alternative Names:
Fault Allocation, Comparative Apportionment
Why it Matters?
Whether liability is joint or several determines the real exposure of a minor-fault defendant. Under joint and several liability a defendant found ten percent at fault can be responsible for the entire judgment if codefendants are insolvent, while under several liability it pays only its share. That single distinction often drives which defendants are targeted and how settlement leverage is distributed.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Can a defendant found ten percent at fault pay the whole judgment?
Does the jury see how apportionment affects payment?
