Failure to Wear a Seat Belt May Significantly Affect Your Personal Injury Lawsuit
I recently wrote a post about an auto accident involving two people who died in Green Cove Springs, Clay County, Florida, neither of whom was wearing a seat belt. Obviously, it is well known that seat belts are important in protecting vehicle occupants from serious injuries, ejections and deaths in a car crash. In the context of a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit, whether the plaintiff, or victim, of the crash was wearing his/her seat belt can be a major issue.
In a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit resulting from an auto accident, the plaintiff is entitled to compensation, or damages, caused by the negligence of another party. Those damages relate to past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering and lost wages as well as other elements of damages. However, a plaintiff's damages may be reduced by the percentage that plaintiff contributed to his/her own damages. For instance, if in a personal injury lawsuit the defendant was 60% at fault for causing the accident and the plaintiff was 40% at fault for causing the accident and the plaintiff's damages were determined to be $100,000, that plaintiff's damages would be reduced by 40%, or $40,000, due to his/her own percentage of fault.
Because seat belts are widely known to protect occupants from injuries or reduce the severity of injuries, when a person does not wear a seat belt and is involved in a crash, the lawyer for the insurance company will always argue that the plaintiff partially or completely contributed to his/her injuries due to the failure to wear the seat belt. In other words, the lawyer for the insurance company will argue that the plaintiff would have been injured much less seriously, or not at all, if he/she had been wearing a seat belt in the crash. The insurance company will pay thousands of dollars for a so-called biomechanical expert to support the insurance company's position, even when it appears obvious that a seat belt would have made no difference in the crash. The plaintiff's lawyer will hire his/her own expert. This seat belt issue can complicate a personal injury or wrongful death case and take a jury's, and insurance adjuster's, focus away from the important issues- that the insurance company's driver caused the accident and the victim is seriously injury or deceased.
The easy solution is for everyone to wear a seat belt. However, if you have been involved in an accident and there is a seat belt issue, contact a law firm whose attorneys are experienced and knowledgeable about the complex issues that will likely materialize in the personal injury or wrongful death case.
