National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws

211 E. Ontario St., Suite 1300, Chicago, IL 60611
tel 312-915-0195, fax 312-915-0187

For Immediate Release

NEW ACT ON TORT RESPONSIBILITY COMPLETED

August 5, 2002 – The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) has visited the issue of comparative fault and tort responsibility many times in its long history, promulgating three uniform acts on the subject since 1939. Today, NCCUSL has once again promulgated a uniform law to deal with the issues of tort responsibility. The Uniform Apportionment of Tort Responsibility Act (UATRA) was approvedtoday by NCCUSL at its 111th Annual Meeting just concluded in Tucson, Arizona. The UATRA governs the apportionment of tort responsibility in typical cases such as bodily injury, wrongful death and property damage cases.

The modern idea of tort responsibility has evolved slowly. Early common law had no tort apportionment, since the defense of "contributory negligence," that is where the injured person's own conduct contributed at least in part to the injury, was a complete bar to recovering any damages. The plaintiff either recovered all of his or her damages, or recovered nothing.

The inherent unfairness of this system caused many states to look for alternatives. In the 1960s, most states abandoned the system of contributory negligence as a complete bar and proceeded to adopt some type of comparative fault system in which all parties, the injured included, were apportioned a percentage of the fault.

In response to these changes, NCCUSL promulgated the Uniform Comparative Fault Act in 1977, which was a pure comparative fault system. Each party to the action, including the injured person, is assigned fault in accordance with his or her contribution to an injury. However, since 1977 most states have moved away from the pure comparative fault system.

Now, 25 years later, NCCUSL has again responded to the current trends of the law by drafting the UATRA which uses a modified comparative fault system. Under the modified system in the new Act, anyone seeking damages must show that their own contribution to the injury or harm is less than the combined responsibility of all other persons (total responsibility should always equal 100 percent). If a claimant's share of the fault exceeds the combined fault of the defendants, a claimant would be completely barred from recovering any damages.

The pure or modified comparative fault systems both require careful consideration of "joint and several liability" issues. The doctrine of "joint and several liability" allows an injured plaintiff to recover all their damages from any one or any combination of defendants, no matter how the fault is divided. The UATRA, except for specified exceptions, provides for "several" liability as a general rule.

Drafting Committee Chair Gene N. Lebrun of Rapid City, South Dakota, said, "The Uniform Apportionment of Tort Responsibility Act codifies the current trend of an equitable apportionment of fault in tort actions in a manner that is fair to both claimants and defendants."

Other committee members include: Richard T. Cassidy, Burlington, Vermont; W. Michael Dunn, Manchester, New Hampshire; Kenneth W. Elliott, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; John F. Hayes, Hutchinson, Kansas; Scott H. Heidepriem, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Richard B. Long, Binghamton, New York; Harvey S. Perlman, Lincoln, Nebraska; W. Steven Wilborn, Frankfort, Kentucky; James A. Wynn, Jr., Raleigh, North Carolina. Roger C. Henderson of Tucson, Arizona, served as the committee's reporter.

The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws is now in its 111th year. The organization comprises more than 300 lawyers, judges, and law professors, appointed by the states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, to draft proposals for uniform and model laws and work toward their enactment in their legislatures. Since its inception in 1892, the group has promulgated more than 200 acts, among them such bulwarks of state statutory law as the Uniform Commercial Code, the Uniform Probate Code, and the Uniform Partnership Act.

For further information, please contact John McCabe or Katie Robinson at 312-915-0195, or Gabrielle Bamberger at 212-333-5222.