adj. referring to a debt or a judgment for negligence, in which each debtor (one
who owes) or each judgment defendant (one who has a judgment against him/her) is
responsible (liable) for the entire amount of the debt or judgment. Thus, in drafting
a promissory note for a debt, it is important to state that if there is more than
one person owing the funds to be paid, the debt is joint and several, since then
the person owed money (creditor, promisee) can collect the entire amount from any
of the joint signers of the note, and not be limited to a share from each debtor.
If a party injured in an accident sues several parties for causing his/her damages,
the court may find that several people were "jointly" negligent and contributed
to the damages. The entire judgment may be collected from any of the defendants
found responsible, unless the court finds different amounts of negligence of each
defendant contributed to the injury. Defense attorneys should require the trier
of fact (jury or judge sitting without a jury) to break down the amount of negligence
of each defendant and the plaintiff if there is contributory negligence. Often the
court will refuse to do so, allowing the plaintiff to collect from whichever defendant
has the "deep pocket" (lots of money), and letting the defendant who pays demand
contributions from the other defendants.
See also comparative negligence contribution contributory negligence joint
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