There are two main elements of an injury claim: liability and damages. First, we need to determine whose actions caused the injury. On the surface, liability seems straight forward. However, insurance companies like to muddy the waters with terms like contributory negligence, comparative negligence, duty, and assumption of the risk. Insurance companies try to save money by claiming that your actions contributed to your injuries. In Nebraska, you need to show that the other person (or persons) had a duty to act in a certain way and that their failure to do so resulted in your injury. This is called modified contributory negligence.   

E.x. As you are driving through a small town another driver runs a stop sign and strikes your car. As a driver on a public road, the other driver had a duty to yield to cars that have a right of way. If you were driving five miles over the speed limit, your violation of the traffic law “contributed” to the accident. However, a reasonable jury would agree that, when comparing the two actions, the action of running the stop sign contributed more to the accident than speeding. The equation changes if the speeding is egregious, causing a reasonable person to question whether the other party could see you.