Why a tie is already a loss
Under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-21,185.09, Nebraska bars recovery once a claimant's fault is equal to, or greater than, the defendant's. This is a meaningfully lower bar for insurers to clear than the more common 51% threshold used elsewhere, where fault must actually exceed the defendant's to win the complete bar. In Nebraska, an adjuster doesn't need to push a claimant's fault past the midpoint — reaching that exact midpoint is already enough.
Where this argument actually comes from
The building blocks of a fault argument in Nebraska are familiar: the narrative section of the police report, any recorded statement taken from the claimant, witness accounts, photos or video of the scene and vehicle positions, and any inconsistencies in how the incident has been described over time.
Why a recorded statement carries extra weight here
An early, informal recorded statement is worth genuine caution in any state, and Nebraska's stricter bar sharpens the stakes. A phrase that shifts an adjuster's internal fault assessment from 45% to exactly 50% doesn't just shrink the payout — it eliminates the claim entirely, a full percentage point sooner than it would in a 51%-bar state.
A real comparison worth keeping in mind
Because the practical gap between Nebraska and a 51%-bar state is exactly one percentage point, and because fault disputes often land somewhere right around an even split, this single-point difference genuinely changes outcomes in a meaningful share of close Nebraska cases compared to what the same facts might yield just across a state line.
Who ultimately decides
If a case goes to trial, the jury determines the fault percentage for each party and, by extension, whether Nebraska's 50% threshold has been reached. In the far more common scenario of a negotiated settlement, the parties effectively work out this same comparison between themselves, both sides fully aware of exactly where that line sits. See our Nebraska comparative fault calculator to see precisely how sharply the outcome changes right at that exact 50% mark.