Chat — Carter ⁄ State Farm
No, the reduction is not automatic. Under California's pure comparative negligence rule, a plaintiff's recovery is reduced only "in direct proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to" the plaintiff Li v. Yellow Cab — a finding of some comparative fault does not by itself fix any particular reduction.
The trier of fact must first decide whether the plaintiff was negligent, then apportion fault according to comparative responsibility; that apportionment is a question of fact decided on the totality of the circumstances American Motorcycle Assn.. The award for pain and suffering remains recoverable under Civ. Code § 3333