The Uniform Apportionment of Tort Responsibility Act (UATRA), and its periodic revisions, is one of the
Uniform Acts drafted by the
National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) with the intention of harmonizing
state law State law refers to the law of a federated state, as distinguished from the law of the federation of which it is a part. It is used when the constituent components of a federation are themselves called states. Federations made up of provinces, cant ...
s in force in the
states.
Purpose
The UATRA is meant to be a successor to the
Uniform Comparative Fault Act The Uniform Comparative Fault Act (UCFA), and its periodic revisions, is one of the Uniform Acts drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) with the intention of harmonizing state laws in force in the states ...
as a way to apportion
liability in
negligence
Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...
cases. The UATRA was designed to overcome the low popularity of the Uniform Comparative Fault Act by modifying the usage of
joint and several liability
Where two or more persons are liable in respect of the same liability, in most common law legal systems they may either be:
* jointly liable, or
* severally liable, or
* jointly and severally liable.
Joint liability
If parties have joint liabilit ...
among multiple tortfeasors.
[Henderson, J.A. et al. ''The Torts Process, Seventh Edition.'' Aspen Publishers, New York: NY, 2007, p. 374]
Adoption
The UATRA was promulgated in 2002. It has not yet been adopted by any states, but it has been introduced in North Carolina in 2009.
References
{{reflist
External links
Text of the UATRA at the NCCUSLDiscussion of the UATRA and the UCFA at the NCCUSL
Uniform Acts