Washington State Insurance Practice Exam

In contributory negligence states, what must be true for a claimant to collect damages?

1. Claimant must be partially at fault

2. Defendant must be only partially at fault

3. Defendant must be 100% at fault and the claimant free of fault

4. Both parties must share the fault equally

The correct answer is: Defendant must be 100% at fault and the claimant free of fault

In contributory negligence states, such as Washington State, for a claimant to collect damages, the defendant must be considered 100% at fault, and the claimant must be found completely free of fault. This means that the claimant cannot have contributed in any way to the incident that caused the damages in order to be eligible to collect compensation. Options A, B, and D are not correct because they involve scenarios where both parties may share some level of fault, which goes against the principles of contributory negligence. In these states, even if the claimant is partially at fault or both parties share fault, the claimant would not be able to collect damages.