Four systems, and Nebraska uses the stricter threshold
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. Nebraska uses the 50% bar under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-21,185.09 — the less forgiving of the two modified thresholds.
The genuinely important gap between 50% and 51%
In a 51%-bar state, a claimant's own fault has to actually exceed the defendant's before recovery is barred — an exact 50/50 split still results in a real payout. Nebraska's rule closes that gap entirely: fault that merely equals the defendant's is already enough to eliminate recovery. This single-point difference is a genuinely meaningful distinction, not a technicality, since it determines whether the most hotly disputed fault findings — the ones that land right in the middle — result in a payout or nothing at all.
The less common modified approach, nationally
A smaller group of roughly a dozen states, Nebraska among them, use this stricter 50% version, while a larger group of 20-plus states use the more forgiving 51% threshold instead.
Pure comparative negligence and contributory negligence: the two extremes
At the more forgiving end of the spectrum, pure comparative negligence states like California never bar recovery for ordinary fault at all, no matter how high the percentage. At the far stricter end, the five contributory negligence jurisdictions — Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and DC — bar recovery entirely for any fault, even 1%. See our guide to the other states using a 50% bar for Nebraska's closest peer group nationally.