You’re sitting at a red light. Someone rear-ends you. It should be simple — they hit you, they pay. Then the adjuster calls and says something like, “Well, our review shows you were partially at fault, so we can only offer you ….” little to nothing.
You didn’t do anything wrong. So how is that legal?
The Myth: “If I’m Even a Little at Fault, I Get Nothing”
Many people assume that any shared blame kills their claim entirely. In Minnesota, that’s not how it works. Under the state’s comparative fault law, you can still recover money even if you were partly responsible for the crash — as long as your share of fault isn’t greater than the other driver’s.
How the Math Actually Works
Say a jury values your damages at $100,000. If you’re found 20 percent at fault — maybe the insurer argues you were going a few miles over the limit, or following slightly close — your recovery drops to $80,000. You’re only barred completely if you’re found more than 50 percent responsible.
That’s why insurance companies fight so hard over small percentages. Every point they can pin on you is real money out of your pocket. It’s not personal. It’s their bank account.
Where Insurers Get Creative
Adjusters are trained to look for anything to shift blame your way: your speed, whether you were “distracted”; how quickly you braked, even whether your brake lights were in perfect working order. Sometimes these arguments are reasonable. Often, they’re stretched thin to shave a settlement down before you’ve even seen your medical bills in full.
Fighting Back
This is where the evidence from the scene — photos, witness statements, crash data, and traffic camera footage — becomes so important. It’s much harder for an insurer to invent a fault percentage when there’s a clear, documented picture of what actually happened. Make sure that you give detailed, truthful information to police, follow up to give anything additional that you
remember, and ask them to document it in their reports.
The Legal Basis
Minnesota’s comparative fault rule is codified at Minnesota Statutes section 604.01. It allows recovery of damages reduced in proportion to your assigned fault, and bars recovery only when your fault exceeds the other party’s.
Don’t Accept the First Number
If an adjuster tells you that you’re partly to blame, that’s not the end of the conversation — it’s might be an opening to a negotiation. You don’t have to accept their math. Do not sign any settlement or accept any offer from insurance without talking to a lawyer first.
Call Pacyga Trial Lawyers at 612-339-5844. We’ll look at what actually happened and push back on any fault percentage that isn’t fair.