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Joint and Several Liability
What is Joing Several Liability?
The legal doctrine of joint and several liability dictates that, even if multiple defendants are responsible for an accident, each can be held liable for all of the victim's economic damages. If none of the defendants has enough money to cover the victim's damages, then the victim can still get compensation after an accident.
An economic damage lawsuit is brought against multiple wrongdoers in California. Noneconomic damages, however, are the responsibility of the defendants separately.
Joint And Several Liability
Joint and several liabilities means that an injured person can bring a lawsuit against several people who caused their injuries even when even one person was only responsible for a small percentage of the damages. The person who caused only a small amount of damage would then be able to seek reimbursement from the other wrongful parties.
Legal doctrines like this have existed for a very long time. The purpose of this law is to protect injured parties from not being able to collect compensation when they are injured. The responsibility for determining the percentage of fault lies with the parties who hurt you. This helps you achieve a comprehensive recovery of your damages even if the main offender is poor, insolvent, or judgment-proof.
Multiple Parties
There is no requirement that multiple people who are responsible for your injuries caused them in the same way when you sue them ("joint tortfeasors"). Regardless of the number of people involved, what counts is that their actions together result in a single, indivisible harm. You may be able to sue them both for economic damages if you have been harmed by their combined actions.
Jointly And Severally Liable For Injuries
Joint and several liability has been modified in California as a result of the old common law standard. Multiple parties may be jointly and severally (separately) responsible for your economic damages, but not for your non-economic damages in proportion to their percentage of fault.
Economic Damages
The injury sufferer incurs economic damages when they can definitively attach a dollar amount to their losses. Economic losses represent the actual or anticipated expenses the injured person will incur in the future. In addition to medical bills and future medical expenses, property damage, loss of income, and lost earning capacity, monetary losses may also include: medical bills for plaintiff's injury, future medical expenses, rehabilitation or other treatment costs, and pain and suffering.
Economic Damages For Wrongful Parties
Each party responsible for your economic damages will be liable if multiple parties caused your injuries. After your trial concludes, and you have proven your damages, any one of the parties can be held liable for all damages.
Contribution
Injuries caused by more than one party can be sought through a separate lawsuit. It is possible for one party to sue the others for their percentage of fault when one party is held liable for the entire economic damage. If one party intentionally injured another, contribution is not available, unless other parties also intentionally injured the victim. In this action, you are not required to be involved, only the party who caused the injury is responsible.
Percentage of Fault
The "trier of fact" will determine if either party was to blame for the injury if the case goes to trial. When there is a jury trial, the trier of fact is the jury; if it's a bench trial, the trier of fact is the judge. In the contribution action, the parties can both sue for money in an amount ("proportionate share") that corresponds to each other's degree of fault ("in direct proportion to the defendants' liability").
Parties Not Jointly And Severally Liable
A California law prohibits joint and several liability for non-economic damages for multiple parties who caused an injury. The court or jury will determine the amount of non-economic damages each party will be responsible for, based on its percentage of fault. Due to this, a party could be held liable for 100% of the economic damages while only being liable for the percentage of fault assigned for the non-economic damages.
Non-economic Damages
Damages that are noneconomic are those that do not necessarily involve out-of-pocket expenses. In addition, their monetary value is often subject to interpretation and is more difficult to estimate except by the judge or juror. Damages other than economic damages may be caused (but are not limited to): pain and suffering, loss of consortium, emotional distress, physical impairment (such as loss of the use of a limb or organ), disfigurement, inconvenience, and loss of enjoyment of life.
Damages Awarded Cap
Many states limit the amount of non-economic damages that can be awarded in personal injury cases, but not California. Basically, whatever the jury determines to be a fair and reasonable value of non-economic damages is what the parties will have to pay for the injuries they caused.
In medical malpractice cases, however, there is an exception. Pain and suffering damages are capped at $250,000 in these types of cases.
Non-Economic Damages Award Divided
As far as non-economic damages are concerned, each responsible party will only have to pay the amount that corresponds to their share of fault. A party may not be able to recover the entire sum, unlike economic damages.
Intentional Torts
Liability for non-economic damages is not joint and several only in negligence cases. It will apply joint and several liability to all parties for both types of damages when the personal injury is caused by an intentional act committed by multiple parties.