If an insurance adjuster has already suggested you were “partly to blame” for your Conway crash, you’re not imagining things — that’s a strategy, not an accident. It happens in nearly every serious car accident claim in Arkansas, and understanding why can be the difference between a fair settlement and walking away with nothing.
Arkansas’s fault rules are stricter than most people realize. Here’s what you actually need to know.
What “Modified Comparative Fault” Actually Means
Arkansas doesn’t use a simple “who caused the wreck” standard. Instead, every party involved in a crash — including you — can be assigned a percentage of fault, and that percentage directly determines what you recover.
Under Arkansas Code Annotated § 16-64-122, if you are found to be 50% or more at fault for the accident, you are barred from recovering any damages at all. If your fault is below that threshold, your compensation is reduced by your percentage of responsibility.
In plain terms: if a jury or insurer decides you were 20% responsible for a Conway intersection collision, your damages are reduced by 20%. But if that number climbs to 50% or higher, your claim is over — regardless of how badly you were hurt or how reckless the other driver was.
Why This Rule Changes Everything About How Adjusters Behave
Because Arkansas ties the entire recovery to that fault percentage — not just a portion of it — insurance companies have a strong financial incentive to push your assigned fault as high as possible. Getting you from 30% to 51% doesn’t just shrink your payout. It eliminates it.
This is why so many injured drivers in Conway describe adjusters asking oddly specific questions early on: How fast were you going? Did you see the other car before impact? Were you fully stopped at the light on Prince Street or Salem Road? Every answer is being measured against that 50% line.
Insurance trap to watch for: A “friendly” recorded statement taken days after the crash — before your medical records, the crash report, or witness statements are finalized — is often used later to nudge your fault percentage upward. You are not obligated to give one on the spot.
Common Ways Fault Gets Disputed in Conway Crashes
A few patterns show up again and again in local claims:
- Intersection collisions near campus and downtown, where both drivers dispute who had the light or right-of-way.
- Lane-change and merge accidents on I-40 or Dave Ward Drive, where following distance and signaling become contested.
- Left-turn crashes, where the turning driver is presumed at fault but may argue the oncoming driver was speeding or distracted.
- Multi-vehicle pileups, where fault gets divided among three or more drivers and percentages become a genuine negotiation.
In every one of these scenarios, the evidence gathered in the first days and weeks — skid marks, traffic camera footage, witness accounts, the official crash report — is what ends up deciding your fault percentage months later.
Building the Record Before It Disappears
Because so much rides on that fault determination, the strength of your evidence matters more in Arkansas than in states with more forgiving comparative negligence rules. A certified copy of the crash report is a starting point, but it’s rarely the final word — officers aren’t always present to witness the collision itself, and their fault notations can be based on incomplete information.
If your case ends up in litigation rather than settling with the insurer, it would typically be filed in the 20th Judicial Circuit Court, which the Arkansas Judiciary’s directory of circuit courts confirms covers Faulkner County. Knowing where and how a claim would proceed if negotiations stall is part of building leverage early, not just a formality for later.
Why This Statute Makes Legal Representation Worth Having
Because a single contested percentage point can mean the difference between a full recovery and none at all, this isn’t a rule you want to navigate against a trained adjuster on your own. It takes someone who knows how Arkansas juries and insurers actually apply § 16-64-122 — not just what it says on paper — to keep your fault percentage where it belongs.
Paul Pfeifer has spent more than three decades fighting these exact battles for injured Arkansans, going back to 1993, and he still takes client calls on his own cell phone rather than routing them through a wall of staff. There’s no upfront cost to get that kind of advocacy — Pfeifer Law Firm works entirely on contingency, so you owe nothing unless money is recovered for you. And for clients whose injuries make travel difficult, the legal team will come to you, wherever you are in Arkansas. If an adjuster is already hinting that you share the blame, talking to a Conway car accident lawyer before you say anything else can protect your claim before it’s compromised.
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed by reading this content. For advice specific to your situation, please consult a licensed attorney in Arkansas.