Four systems, and New Hampshire uses the more common 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. New Hampshire uses the 51% bar under RSA 507:7-d — the more typical of the two modified thresholds nationally.
Where New Hampshire genuinely stands apart: fault-triggered joint liability
New Hampshire layers something genuinely distinctive on top of the standard 51% recovery bar. Under RSA 507:7-e, once a particular defendant's own fault reaches 50% or more, that defendant specifically becomes jointly and severally liable — a separate mechanism from the plaintiff's own 51% recovery threshold. This gives New Hampshire two meaningful fault lines operating side by side: one determining whether the claimant recovers at all, and another determining how a particularly at-fault defendant's liability is structured.
The stricter alternative: a 50% bar
A smaller group of about 12 states, including Georgia and Kansas, use a stricter version: recovery is barred the moment the claimant's fault is equal to the defendant's, not only when it exceeds it.
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. 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 51% bar for New Hampshire's closest peer group nationally.