A rule built specifically for the simplest accidents
Under NDCC § 32-03.2-02.1, North Dakota's general comparative fault rule doesn't apply in the usual proportional way to a two-party motor vehicle accident where one person is more than 50% at fault. Instead, that more-than-50%-at-fault party becomes responsible for all of the property damage from the accident — not simply their own percentage share of it.
Why this rule exists
According to a North Dakota Attorney General opinion addressing this provision, it was passed specifically to eliminate disputes over apportioning fault once a straightforward two-vehicle accident clearly crosses the 50% threshold for one party. Rather than litigating precise percentage splits in a simple two-car scenario, the law shifts to a cleaner all-or-nothing allocation for the property damage itself.
Property damage specifically, not the whole claim
This two-party mechanism is specifically about property damage allocation. The general 50% bar under the main comparative fault statute, NDCC § 32-03.2-02, still governs how bodily injury damages are handled in the same accident — so a single two-car crash can genuinely involve two different fault-allocation mechanisms operating side by side, one for the vehicles and one for the people in them.
Why "two-party" is the key phrase
This specific mechanism is tied to the two-party scenario described in the statute. An accident involving more than two parties is generally analyzed instead under the broader combined-fault comparison found in the main comparative fault statute, where the claimant's fault is weighed against the combined fault of everyone else involved.
Who ultimately decides
If a case goes to trial, the jury determines the fault percentages that drive both the general 50% bar and, in a two-party case, which side crosses that same threshold for the property damage rule. In the far more common scenario of a negotiated settlement, the parties and their insurers effectively work out this same comparison between themselves. See our North Dakota comparative fault calculator to see how sharply the outcome changes on either side of the 50% line for bodily injury damages.