Is Rhode Island an At-Fault or No-Fault State?
No — Rhode Island is an at-fault (tort) state, not a no-fault state.
- Fault system
- At-fault (tort)
Rhode Island never adopted no-fault. There is no personal injury protection benefit and no injury threshold standing between you and a suit against the driver who caused the crash. What the law compels is liability coverage under § 31-47-2(13)(i)(A) and uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage under § 27-7-2.1; medical payments coverage must be written into the policy but can be rejected in writing.
- Comparative negligence rule
- Pure comparative negligence — no percentage bar
Section 9-20-4 diminishes damages in proportion to the claimant's own share of fault and stops there. There is no 50% or 51% cut-off, so a driver found 90% responsible still recovers 10% of the damages. A 2019 amendment (P.L. 2019, ch. 185 and 256) added that the fact a danger or defect was open and obvious is likewise no bar to recovery — it applies only to injuries occurring after July 15, 2019.
How Rhode Island 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.
Pure comparative fault has no cliff. Your damages are cut by your share of the blame and nothing more: on a hypothetical $100,000, a driver 80% at fault still recovers $20,000. 9 of the 50 jurisdictions on this site work this way. It is the most forgiving arrangement for a driver who was mostly but not entirely in the wrong, and the reason a claim worth little in a neighboring state can still be worth bringing here.
Every statute cited for Rhode Island
What changed
July 15, 2019
An open and obvious danger no longer bars recovery
P.L. 2019, ch. 185 (H 5478 Substitute A) and ch. 256 amended R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-20-4 so that "the fact that the danger or defect was open and obvious" no longer bars a recovery; like ordinary contributory fault, it now only reduces damages in proportion to the claimant's share of the negligence. Rhode Island was already a pure comparative negligence state with no percentage cut-off, and this closed the doctrine that courts had used to dispose of claims before the comparison was ever made. By its own terms the amendment reaches only injuries or property damage occurring after the act passed on July 15, 2019.
Rhode Island General Assembly — Public Law 2019, ch. 185
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 Rhode Island
Checked against the primary sources above on September 29, 2026. If a figure here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it — what we have corrected so far is public.