50 Percent Rule Law and Legal Definition
50 percent rule is a principle applied in certain states whereby the plaintiff’s recovery in negligence cases is barred if the plaintiff's percentage of fault is 50% or more. In such states, the liability for negligence is calculated in accordance with the percentage of fault that the fact-finder assigns to each party. The recovery will be reduced by the percentage of negligence assigned to a particular person. This is also known as modified comparative negligence doctrine.