Composite negligence refers to the negligence on the part of the two or
more persons. Where a person is injured as a result of the negligence on
the part of two or more wrong doers, it is said that the person was
injured on account of the composite negligence of those wrong-doers. In
such a case, each wrong doer is jointly and severally liable to the
injured for payment of the entire damages and the injured person has the
choice of proceeding against all or any of them. In such a case the
injured need not establish the extent of responsibility of each
wrong-doer separately. On the other hand, where a person suffers injury
partly due to the negligence on the part of another person or persons
and partly as a result of his own negligence, then the negligence on the
part of the injured which contributed to the accident is referred to as
his contributory negligence.
Composite negligence is not a term defined
or explained. It should ordinarily mean that both acts of negligence
operate at the same time so as to form one transaction, which gets so
mixed up that it is not possible to separate the same in order to find
out the whole fault in question. Principles of composite negligence are,
when more than one person are responsible in the commission of the
wrong, that the person wronged has a choice of proceeding against all or
anyone or more than one of the wrongdoers. Every wrongdoer is liable
for the whole damage if it is not otherwise made out. Primary
distinction between 'contributory negligence' and 'composite negligence'
is that in the former an act or omission on the part of the injured or
deceased is involved, which has materially contributed to the damage. In
the latter, a person is injured or his death occurs without any
negligence on his part, but as a result of the combined effect of the
negligence of two or more other persons. What can be discerned from the
above is that when the amount of fault of each wrong doer cannot be
ascertained with reasonable certainty, an innocent claimant can claim
compensation from anyone of them, without being driven to the risk of
proving the role of each wrongdoer.
No comments:
Post a Comment