Negligence

• In Black's Law Dictionary, negligence is defined as "the failure to exercise the standard of care that a reasonably prudent person would have exercised in a similar situation."
  
  

Pure Comparative Negligence

• Rhode Island follows a pure comparative negligence system. Under this system, a judge or jury assigns a percentage of fault to both the injured party and the party accused of causing the injuries. The defendant in such cases must pay damages in proportion to their percentage of fault even if the plaintiff is found to be 99 percent at fault.
  
  

Statute of Limitations

• In general, the statute of limitations for Rhode Island personal injury claims is three years; however, special rules for the tolling of the statute of limitations apply for minors and the mentally disabled.