Is Connecticut an At-Fault or No-Fault State?
No — Connecticut is an at-fault (tort) state, not a no-fault state.
- Fault system
- At-fault (tort)
Connecticut was a no-fault state until January 1, 1994. P.A. 93-297 expressly repealed the no-fault sections of the General Statutes — §§ 38a-365 to 38a-369, 38a-373 to 38a-378, 38a-380 to 38a-384 and 38a-386 — and that repealer took effect January 1, 1994. It was an outright repeal in the act, not a sunset. Since then the injured party recovers from the driver at fault and, if need be, sues to establish fault and damages.
- Comparative negligence rule
- Modified comparative — 51% bar
Section 52-572h(b): you recover only if your negligence was not greater than the combined negligence of those you sue — so at 50% or less. Your damages are then cut by your share of fault.
How Connecticut compares with every other state
What the fault rule decides
In an at-fault state the driver who caused the crash — through their liability insurer — pays for the harm. That is the arrangement in 38 of the 51 jurisdictions on this site, so it is the one most US advice assumes. The practical consequence is that your recovery depends on two things you do not control: how much liability cover the other driver bought, and what share of the blame you are assigned.
Modified comparative fault turns the case into a percentage. On a hypothetical $100,000 of damages — arithmetic, not a figure from Connecticut law — being 20% to blame leaves you $80,000, and being 40% to blame leaves you $60,000. Cross the line at 51% and the award is not reduced, it is gone. 24 of the 50 jurisdictions on this site draw the line in the same place, and the whole dispute after a serious crash tends to be about which side of it you land on.
Every statute cited for Connecticut
What changed
January 1, 1994
No-fault insurance repealed; Connecticut returned to a tort system
P.A. 93-297, approved July 1, 1993, was an outright repeal, not a sunset: section 28 of the act repealed Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 38a-365 to 38a-369, 38a-373 to 38a-378, 38a-380 to 38a-384 and 38a-386, and section 29 set that repealer to take effect January 1, 1994. Gone with those sections was the mandatory $5,000 basic reparations (PIP) benefit and the restriction on suing the at-fault driver. The same act created underinsured motorist conversion coverage (§ 38a-336a) and the informed consent form for reducing uninsured and underinsured motorist limits. Thirty years on, guides and comparison sites still describe Connecticut as a no-fault state.
Connecticut General Assembly — Public Act 93-297
Why the rule looks like this
- What Changed in 2026Liability minimums doubled in Hawaii, two states dropped pure comparative fault, New Hampshire stopped inspecting cars, and three crash reporting thresholds moved — a dated account of the 2026 changes, and the ones already signed for 2027 and beyond.
- The One Percentage Point That Decides Your ClaimAcross the states covered on this site there are four different rules for what your own share of the blame does to your claim — and in North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia, being 1% at fault ends it entirely.
- No-Fault Does Not Mean Nobody Is at FaultNo-fault restricts the right to sue rather than removing it. Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan and New York run it, New Jersey and Pennsylvania let you choose, and Michigan lets every driver pick one of six PIP ceilings — which changes who pays after a crash.
More on Connecticut
Checked against the primary sources above on September 27, 2026. If a figure here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it — what we have corrected so far is public.