Nancy loses control of her car and slams into a guardrail at the entrance to a bridge. Nancy is trapped in her car, which is now blocking the bridge. Percy sees the accident, jumps out of his car, and begins warning oncoming traffic to stop. A car driven by Dalton strikes Percy, and Percy is injured. Percy sues Dalton and the Texas Dept. of Transportation ("TxDOT"). In his suit, Percy alleges that (i) Dalton was negligent because he was speeding, (ii) TxDOT was negligent in designing the bridge, and (iii) the negligence of Dalton and TxDOT caused emotional and physical damages to P. The court finds that Percy suffered $1,000,000 in damages as a result of the accident. The court apportions fault for the accident 10% to Percy, 50% to Dalton, and 40% to TxDOT. However, the court rules that TxDOT is immune from liability under the doctrine of sovereign immunity. How much can Percy recover from Dalton?

The answer is given below

Step-by-step explanation

After a traffic accident in Texas, you may be wondering about your rights and responsibilities, including your options for holding the at-fault driver financially responsible for your losses.Under Texas Transportation Code section 550, the driver of any vehicle involved in an accident must immediately ("by the quickest means of communication") report the accident to the local police department (if the accident occurred in a municipality) or to the local sheriff's office (if the crash occurred outside a municipality) of the crash resulted in:

• injury or death of any person, or
• damage to a vehicle to the extent that it cannot be safely driven from the scene.

Texas follows a "modified comparative fault" rule when more than one party is found to share blame for an accident. In most car accident cases, the jury is asked to calculate two things based on the evidence: the total dollar amount of the plaintiff's damages, and the percentage of fault that belongs to each party. Under the modified comparative fault rule, the plaintiff's damages award is reduced by a percentage equal to his or her share of fault.

So Percy can claim only 50% of $1,000,000 that is $500000 from Dalton as court apportions fault for the accident and Dalton is only 50% liable.