A Portland crash claim can still pay even when you bear part of the blame, but only up to a point. If your share of fault is larger than the combined share of the other people the law brings into the comparison, the claim is cut off. If your share is the same as that combined share, or smaller, the award is reduced by your percentage. Section 31.600 is the statute that sets that comparative standard for death, injury to a person, or injury to property.
Put simply, you can still recover when your share is the same as, or smaller than, the combined fault of the defendants and the other people 31.600(2) brings into the comparison. If your share is larger than that combined share, recovery is cut off. People in Portland often shorthand that as a 51 percent cutoff. The statute itself speaks in terms of “not greater than” the combined fault, which is the wording to remember when an adjuster starts handing out percentages after a wreck near Nob Hill.
Who actually gets compared
The comparison is not limited to the two drivers at the intersection. Under 31.600(2), the trier of fact compares the claimant’s fault with the fault of any party against whom recovery is sought, the fault of third-party defendants who are liable in tort to the claimant, and the fault of any person with whom the claimant has settled. A failure to make a direct claim against a third-party defendant does not remove that person from the comparison if the statute otherwise requires it.
The same subsection says there shall be no comparison of fault, except for persons who have settled with the claimant, with a person who is immune from liability to the claimant, who is not subject to the jurisdiction of the court, or who is not subject to action because a statute of limitation or a statute of ultimate repose has already closed the claim. A defendant who wants a nonparty or a settling person included has the burden the statute describes. These details matter in a wreck that involves a borrowed car, a contractor, or a public employee.
Each defendant is generally several only
Oregon also changed how a judgment is entered when more than one defendant shares the blame. Section 31.610 says that, except as otherwise provided in that section, in a civil action arising out of bodily injury, death or property damage, including certain related emotional and consortium claims, the liability of each defendant for damages awarded to the plaintiff shall be several only and shall not be joint. The court enters judgment against each liable party in line with the percentages of fault determined under section 31.605.
That is a practical point, not a technicality. If one driver is assigned 80 percent and another 20 percent, you do not automatically collect the whole sum from whichever insurer is easier to reach. The statute has additional rules about uncollectible shares, which you should read in 31.610 rather than assume. Ask a lawyer how those rules would apply if one defendant is uninsured or has disappeared.
How this sits next to PIP, UM and public-body recoveries
Comparative fault works alongside other Oregon filters, and it does not replace them. Personal injury protection benefits under section 742.520 may pay early medical bills and a share of income loss no matter which driver caused the wreck, subject to the policy and section 742.524. A household uninsured or underinsured claim under section 742.502 is a separate contract claim with its own limits. A claim against the City or the State still has the notice and cap rules in ORS 30.275, 30.271 and 30.272. Winning a fault debate after a deadline has run does not reopen a claim that nobody filed.
Pedestrian and bicycle wrecks in the Nob Hill area often turn on these percentages. Section 811.028 requires a driver to come to a stop, and stay stopped, for a person on foot in a crosswalk in the circumstances that section names. Section 811.065 requires a driver overtaking a bicycle to pass at a safe distance, meaning a distance sufficient to prevent contact if the rider were to fall into the driver’s lane, with the exceptions that section names. Those Vehicle Code duties become evidence in the 31.600 analysis. They do not decide the civil case by themselves, for either side.
What to do with an adjuster’s percentage
If an insurer makes an offer that already assumes you were mostly to blame, ask what facts support that percentage. Photographs, the crash report, witness names and the dates of treatment all belong in that conversation. Our crash report guide walks through how to request a Portland Police report. The report is useful for names, times and a diagram. It does not settle the civil fault question by itself. Do not assume a box checked on a form will decide the case.
The two-year period in section 12.110 keeps running while the parties debate percentages. If a public vehicle was involved, the 180-day notice in 30.275 is a separate duty. Our deadline guide and our notice guide cover those clocks. Talk with an Oregon injury lawyer, and look up whether the license is still active, before you accept a number that might end the claim.
Oregon’s financial-responsibility floor is modest, which is one reason these percentages matter so much. Section 806.070 uses $25,000 as the floor for one person’s injury, $50,000 as the floor when a wreck injures more than one person (still capped per person), and $20,000 for property damage. A high fault share on a low-limit policy can shrink an already tight recovery. Our UM and UIM guide explains the coverage that often sits next to those floors.