“I am honored to be the recipient of the 2025 Greensboro Bar Association ‘Outstanding Young Lawyer’ Award and named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers. I am passionate about the work I do and the organizations and community I serve. To be nominated and recognized by my peers for these awards is humbling and motivating."
CR Legal Team’s Elizabeth Ray Robertson has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in the personal injury legal field and works diligently for her clients each day. But, as a North Carolina attorney, Elizabeth is constantly fighting against outdated laws in the State of North Carolina that bar recovery for those who have been injured through no fault of their own.
North Carolina is only one of five jurisdictions in the United States with outdated Contributory Negligence laws that prevent any recovery for injury victims that may be even less than 1% responsible for their injury. To put this in context, if you slip and fall on a wet floor in a restaurant with no “wet floor” sign, contributory negligence laws may prevent you from being able to hold the restaurant accountable no matter how badly you are injured. Why? Great question! You’re wearing the wrong shoes? You couldn’t see the wet floor or cooking oil that was spilled on the floor because of the low light? Who knows? The insurance company can use any reason to keep you from getting the help you need.
Contributory negligence is great for the insurance companies. It keeps their costs low, even as everyone continues to pay for their insurance coverage. Insurance companies continue to blame the victim and we all as taxpayers pay the price while they pay high salaries to celebrities who appear in their commercials. Elizabeth and other attorneys at CR Legal Team understand how wrong this is and they are fighting each day to chip away at the barriers for their clients caused by contributory negligence.
In a recent case against a large business in North Carolina, Elizabeth’s client was initially told that she would be barred from any recovery after sustaining a very serious injury in a slip and fall incident on the business grounds. Although the fall was clearly caused by the negligence of business personnel, the client was effectively told that it was her fault. Wrong shoes? Low light? It doesn’t matter to the insurance company and the outdated laws they champion. There was no path to recovery.
Elizabeth’s passion for caring for those in need and her commitment to seeking justice simply could not allow her to accept this result for her badly injured client. She fought hard for a kind and badly injured woman who could not fight for herself and won $300,000 in recovery for her client. This is just one example of the many clients Elizabeth cares for each day as she continues to fight to level the playing field against insurance.
When asked about her recent case, Elizabeth commented, “The archaic concept of ‘contributory negligence’ creates a massive and unjust hurdle for victims of negligence in North Carolina. This defense tends to be asserted in every personal injury case, particularly those involving slip and falls. I was happy to be able to defeat this defense and achieve a just result for a well-deserving client.”
