Rear End Collision
$2,300,000
Insurer offered$85,000
Spinal cord injury after a rear end crash. The insurer offered $85,000.
Serving New Mexico
Partly at Fault in a New Mexico Crash: Can You Still Recover?
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In New Mexico, being partly at fault does not end your car accident claim. The state follows pure comparative negligence, so your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault and nothing more: a driver assigned a third of the blame still collects two thirds. Top USA Law builds the evidence that holds your percentage down before the adjuster picks a number. Call (877) 411-5291.
What is New Mexico's rule when both drivers share the blame?
New Mexico applies pure comparative negligence: each person's share of fault is set as a percentage and your recovery is cut by yours. There is no cutoff. A person found mostly responsible still collects the remaining fraction from the person who caused the rest. The rule comes from the New Mexico Supreme Court's decision in Scott v. Rizzo, which replaced the old all or nothing rule under which any fault at all barred the claim.
Because the rule never ends a claim, New Mexico insurers fight over the percentage. An adjuster who cannot deny that the other driver ran the light on Central Avenue will argue that you were speeding, looking at your phone or slow to brake, because every point moved onto you is a point off the check. The percentage is built from evidence that exists only in the first days after the crash, which is why the early work decides the outcome.
The same percentage follows you into a claim under your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, and it applies to a claim against a public entity under the Tort Claims Act, on top of that Act's 90 day notice under NMSA 41-4-16 and its damage caps.
How is your percentage of fault decided in New Mexico?
Adjusters negotiate the percentage from the report and the evidence during the claim, and a district court jury decides it if the case is filed. No instrument measures fault. It is argued from the crash report, the physical evidence, what each driver said, and whatever video and witnesses can be found. Nothing in the officer's report binds the jury, though insurers treat it as settled until shown otherwise.
Two examples
A driver turns left across Coors Boulevard and is struck by an oncoming pickup traveling well over the limit. The turning driver failed to yield; the pickup was speeding. Where the split lands depends on who can prove speed, sight lines and timing, so footage from a gas station camera and the data recorders in both vehicles matter more than either driver's memory.
A man crosses Central Avenue mid block at night and is hit by a driver who was texting. The insurer says he should have used the crosswalk. The answer is that the driver was not looking at the road at all, so the choice of crossing point deserves a small share of the fault, not most of it, and the phone records prove where the driver's eyes were.
How do you keep your share of fault small?
Preserve the evidence that disappears first, correct the crash report if it is wrong, and never give the other insurer a recorded statement.
- Business and traffic camera footage is often overwritten within days. Requesting it in the first week is the difference between proof and argument.
- Witnesses who stopped need to be contacted while they still remember. Their names are on the report if the officer took them.
- The crash report from the New Mexico State Police or the local agency can be supplemented through the agency's process when it records something wrong.
- Vehicle data from both cars can establish speed and braking; it is lost when a car is repaired or scrapped.
- The recorded statement is where your percentage is usually born. A remark about glancing at the radio becomes a line item. You owe the other driver's insurer no statement, and we decline it for every client.
A fault dispute never extends the three year deadline to file under NMSA 37-1-8. If the percentage is still being argued as the date approaches, the complaint is filed and the argument continues in court.
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Results in cases like this
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$1,800,000
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Drunk Driver Victim
$1,500,000
Insurer offered$50,000
Traumatic brain injury caused by an impaired driver. The insurer offered $50,000.
Every case is different. Past results do not guarantee, warrant, or predict a similar outcome.
Where we help in New Mexico
How Top USA Law handles shared fault claims in New Mexico
We treat shared fault as a defense the insurer has to prove, and we prepare every file as if a jury will decide the percentage. When a case is filed, it goes to the district court for the county where the crash happened, such as the Second Judicial District Court in Bernalillo County or the Third Judicial District Court in Dona Ana County. Top USA Law keeps no office in New Mexico; our team works by phone, by video and at the hospital, and Andranik "Andy" Boyadzhyan, licensed in New Mexico, handles the file. The consultation is free and there is no fee unless we win. Read the New Mexico car accident lawyer page or call (877) 411-5291.
We serve New Mexico clients by phone, video and in person appointments arranged case by case.
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New Mexico filing deadlines and insurance notice rules can be short. A free call tells you where your clock stands.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I was 40 percent at fault in New Mexico, what do I recover?
Sixty percent of your total damages. New Mexico's pure comparative negligence rule reduces the recovery by your percentage and nothing else, with no threshold that ends the claim. The contest in a New Mexico case is over the size of the percentage, not whether you can recover at all.
Can I recover if I was more at fault than the other driver?
Yes. Under pure comparative negligence a driver assigned 70 percent of the blame still recovers 30 percent of their damages from the other driver. That driver has a mirror image claim against you for their own losses, so your own liability insurer will also be involved.
Does the police report decide my percentage of fault?
No. The officer's report is evidence, and insurers lean on it, but it does not bind an adjuster's negotiation or a jury's verdict. Where the report is wrong, it can be supplemented through the agency, and the physical evidence often tells a different story.
Can a passenger be assigned fault in New Mexico?
Only for the passenger's own choices, for example getting into a car with a driver who was plainly drunk. Sitting in the seat is not fault. When both drivers share the blame, the passenger claims against each in proportion to that driver's share, and neither driver's percentage is charged to the passenger.
Does shared fault apply if a drunk driver hit me?
The rule still applies in theory, but the facts rarely support much fault on your side. Driving while intoxicated violates NMSA 66-8-102, and a conviction is evidence in the civil case. Reckless conduct of that kind can also support punitive damages against the driver.
Does a fault dispute change my deadline to file in New Mexico?
No. The complaint must be filed within three years of the crash under NMSA 37-1-8, a wrongful death claim within three years of the death under NMSA 41-2-2, and a claim against a public entity requires written notice within 90 days under NMSA 41-4-16, whatever the state of the fault argument.
Last reviewed by Andranik "Andy" Boyadzhyan, Esq., September 2026.
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Excelente servicio. Hablaron español conmigo y me explicaron todo el proceso. Recibí $320,000 por mi accidente de motocicleta.
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