For all intents and purposes, Pennsylvania has abandoned the doctrine of contributory negligence in favor of comparative negligence. That is, the allocation of a plaintiff’s own contribution to a defendant’s liability will offset the ultimate award but not preclude recovery if the plaintiff’s own liability is 50 percent or less causative. Plaintiff liability contribution of 1 percent has all but been eliminated as otherwise barring an action.
Except in legal malpractice actions, that is. If a former client contributes in any way to the attorney’s ultimate neglect, the legal malpractice action is barred. However, given the vastly different position between attorney and client (as opposed to driver and automobile), the client’s legal ability to so contribute is limited.
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