California follows pure comparative negligence: a jury (or, in practice, an insurance negotiation) assigns each party a percentage of fault, and your compensation is reduced by your share. Found 20% at fault with $100,000 in damages? You can still recover $80,000.
This matters because people routinely abandon valid claims after assuming partial fault means no claim. In California, even a person found 90% at fault can recover the remaining 10%.
Fault percentages are argued, not fixed — they shift with evidence like camera footage, vehicle damage patterns, and witness accounts. This is also why volunteering "it was my fault" to an adjuster before the facts are established can cost real money.