Four systems, and Connecticut uses the more common middle version
American fault law splits into four real categories: pure comparative negligence, modified comparative negligence with a 50% bar, modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar, and pure contributory negligence. Connecticut uses the 51% bar — the more typical of the two modified thresholds, used by roughly 21 states compared to about 12 that use the stricter 50% version.
Connecticut's rule: barred only when you exceed them
Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-572h(b), a claimant recovers as long as their negligence is not greater than the combined negligence of the people they're suing. A claimant at exactly 50% still recovers half their damages; only crossing to 51% bars recovery entirely.
The stricter alternative: a 50% bar
A smaller group of states, including Colorado and Arkansas, use a stricter version: recovery is barred the moment the claimant's fault is equal to the other side's, not only when it exceeds it. A claimant at exactly 50% recovers nothing in those states, while the same claimant recovers a meaningful amount in Connecticut.
A genuine extra layer: comparing against combined, not individual, fault
Connecticut's statute compares the claimant against the combined negligence of everyone they're suing, including settled or released persons — not a simple one-on-one comparison against a single defendant. This is a real, practical wrinkle worth understanding on its own terms, separate from the 50%-versus-51% threshold question itself, and it can genuinely affect how the math plays out in a case with multiple potentially at-fault parties.
Pure comparative negligence: the more forgiving alternative
At the more forgiving end of the spectrum, pure comparative negligence states — including California and Arizona — never bar recovery for ordinary fault at all, no matter how high the claimant's percentage climbs. Connecticut's approach produces a very different outcome the moment fault exceeds the 50% mark.
Contributory negligence: the strictest extreme
At the far other end sit the five contributory negligence jurisdictions — Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia — where any fault at all, even 1%, bars recovery entirely. See our guide to the other states using a 51% bar for Connecticut's closest peer group nationally.