The less common modified comparative threshold
Among the roughly 33 US states that use some form of modified comparative negligence, a smaller group uses the stricter 50% threshold — recovery is barred once the claimant's fault simply equals the defendant's, not only when it exceeds it. A larger group of 21 states uses a more forgiving 51% version instead.
The 12 states using a 50% bar
Maine's peer group under this stricter threshold is: Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia.
Something of a regional outlier
Maine stands somewhat apart from its immediate New England neighbors on this specific rule. Several nearby states instead use the more forgiving 51% bar, meaning Maine's threshold is more a reflection of its own legislative history than a shared regional pattern.
Shared threshold, one genuinely distinctive Maine feature
All 12 states share the same core threshold — fault equal to 50% bars recovery — but Maine's version, 14 M.R.S. § 156, pairs that threshold with a genuinely unusual feature: rather than a strict proportional reduction, Maine directs the jury to reduce damages by what it finds "just and equitable" — real discretion that most of the other 11 states in this group don't build into their own comparative fault statutes.
Why this matters in a disputed claim
Because all 12 of these states bar recovery at an even 50-50 split, a disputed fault percentage that lands right at the midpoint results in zero recovery here — a real practical difference from the 21 states using the more forgiving 51% bar. See our full comparison of how Maine's rule fits among all four fault systems for the complete picture.