In a personal injury action in New York, if a non-party is at least partly responsible for the plaintiff’s injury, CPLR Article 16 may limit the defendants’ share of the damages to the extent of the non-party’s percentage of fault. Since this tricky provision can make a big difference in a close case, this article offers a defense-oriented perspective on Article 16 in premises liability matters.
The four statutes within Article 16 (CPLR 1600-1603) operate together to determine whether the defendants will be obligated to pay the plaintiff for the non-party’s share of the damages as well as their own, or alternatively, whether the plaintiff will have to accept less money from the defendants to the extent of the non-party’s percentage of fault.1
