Trial and burden of proof of contributory negligence · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 5-4.2 Trial and burden of proof of contributory negligence
On the trial of an action accruing before September first, nineteen hundred seventy-five to recover damages for causing death the contributory negligence of the decedent shall be a defense, to be pleaded and proved by the defendant.
In a wrongful-death action accruing before September 1, 1975, the decedent’s contributory negligence is a defense, but the defendant must plead and prove it. ★
Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.
This provision appears in Volume 1 — The Surrogate's Court in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Surrogate's Court: Court Rules & the EPTL; Volume 5 — Your Career: Surrogate's Court in Plain English.