If a plaintiff and a defendant share fault in a negligence case, what is the result under a contributory negligence rule?

Under the contributory negligence rule, if a plaintiff shares any fault in a negligence case, their case can be completely dismissed. This means that if the plaintiff is found to have contributed to the harm they suffered, even to a small extent, they are barred from recovering any damages from the defendant.

This principle is based on the idea that a plaintiff who is partially responsible for their own injuries should not be able to hold another party liable. Thus, if the plaintiff is determined to have been negligent in any way that contributed to the incident, the courts will not allow them to collect damages, regardless of the defendant's level of fault.

This system differs from comparative negligence, where plaintiffs can recover damages reduced by their share of the fault, which explains why the other options provided wouldn’t be applicable under the contributory negligence framework.