Last Clear Chance
Posted By James Roane on Jul 3, 2010 6:04am PDT
North Carolina is one of the few states in the nation that still has contributory negligence. Contributory negligence means that if you contribute to your injuries at all, you can't recover. Insurance companies have taken this idea and ran with it. They will now actually try to blame you if you are rear-ended by another car.
The doctrine of Last Clear Chance may be able to help you. Last Clear Chance means that even if you were partially at fault, the defendant had the last opportunity to avoid a wreck so it is still his fault. You will need to prove that you were stuck in a helpless position, and that the defendant had time to stop or avoid the collision. Last Clear Chance can sometimes help to avoid a manufactured claim of contributory negligence.