Washington's rule: reduced, never barred
Under RCW 4.22.005, Washington follows pure comparative negligence: a claimant's damages are reduced in proportion to their own percentage of fault, no matter how high that percentage runs. There's no threshold that bars recovery entirely the way a modified comparative or contributory negligence state would apply.
Worked example
Someone with $100,000 in damages, found 90% at fault, still recovers $10,000 under Washington's rule — the remaining 10% not attributable to their own fault. In most modified comparative states, that same 90% figure would bar recovery completely.
A real historical shift
Washington didn't always work this way. The state previously followed a strict contributory negligence rule, barring recovery entirely for any degree of plaintiff fault, before the legislature changed the law to the pure comparative system now in place under RCW 4.22.005.
A genuinely conditional liability structure
Whether a defendant can be held jointly and severally liable for a full judgment, or only for their own proportional share, depends specifically on the plaintiff's own fault level. See our full guide to how fault and liability work together in Washington for this genuinely distinctive structure.