Opinion ID: 1462048
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Other Jurisdictions Seat Belt Evidence

Text: There is a sharp split of authority amongst courts that have considered the admissibility of safety-belt evidence. [5] Swajian v. General Motors Corp., R.I.Supr., 559 A.2d 1041, 1043 (1989). The Swajian Court set forth numerous cases and jurisdictions which have found seat belt non-use admissible. Id. at 1043-44. As another court has stated: Enough has been written about the seatbelt defense to show the body of law related to it is split, fragmented and changing. It varies in time, place, rationale, effect and implementation. No doubt the law varies so much because the theory does not fit neatly into traditional tort doctrines of negligence (including duty, breach of duty and causation), strict liability, contributory negligence, mitigation of damages, avoidance of consequences, and comparative fault. LaHue v. General Motors Corp., 716 F.Supp. 407, 410 (W.D.Mo.1989). This Court has concluded that several cases from other jurisdictions are instructive with regard to the admissibility of seat belt evidence to defend against a claim for negligently defective seat design or crashworthiness. In one of those cases, with a factual scenario similar to this proceeding, the plaintiff alleged that she was injured as a result of a seat back failure. Gardner v. Chrysler Corp., 89 F.3d 729, 732 (10th Cir.1996). The manufacturer contended that the plaintiff's unrestrained body caused the seat back to yield. Id. at 733. The trial court admitted evidence that a seat belt was included in the plaintiff's vehicle as part of its overall design. Id. at 734-35. After a defense verdict, the plaintiff alleged on appeal that the trial court improperly permitted the admission of seat belt evidence in violation of both the Kansas seat belt statute and the common law. [6] Id. at 733. The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit rejected those arguments. Id. at 736. It held that in a crashworthiness case, where a plaintiff is attacking the design of the vehicle, the manufacturer may not be foreclosed from admitting evidence that a seat belt was part of the design of the occupant restraint system of the vehicle. Id. at 736-37. Because such evidence was relevant to the design of the vehicle, and not to comparative negligence or to mitigation of damages, the court held that neither the seat belt statute nor common law precluded its admission. Id. Another case involved plaintiffs who were ejected from their vehicle during an accident. MacDonald v. General Motors Corp., 784 F.Supp. 486, 489 (M.D.Tenn.1992). In MacDonald, the plaintiffs contended that the accident was caused by the allegedly defective and unreasonably dangerous condition of their vehicle. Id. at 490. The defendant manufacturer raised the defenses of contributory negligence, assumption of the risk, failure to mitigate damages, and lack of proximate causation due to the plaintiffs' failure to wear available seat belts. Id. The plaintiffs contended that all of those defenses asserted were barred by the Tennessee seat belt statute, which provided: In no event shall failure to wear a safety belt be considered as contributory negligence, nor shall such failure to wear a safety belt be admissible as evidence in a trial of any civil action. Id. (quoting TENN.CODE ANN. § 55-9-604). The court in MacDonald held that the Tennessee seat belt statute and Tennessee precedent prohibited the admission of the plaintiffs' failure to wear seat belts with regard to the defenses of contributory negligence, assumption of the risk, and failure to mitigate damages. Id. at 497-99. On the issue of proximate causation, however, the court held that evidence of seat belt non-use was admissible: When the question whether an injured person was not wearing a safety belt bears on what proximately caused the specific injuries, the court should read [the statute's] categorical exclusion of such evidence as qualified by [the statute's further declaration that it] is not to be construed as imposing strict liability. ... To prevent General Motors from introducing evidence that the Plaintiffs' injuries were the result of being thrown from the van would be taking a step toward the imposition of absolute liability. Id. at 499. In a third similar case, the plaintiff brought a crashworthiness claim alleging that she suffered enhanced injuries due to the defective design of her vehicle's seats. LaHue v. General Motors Corp., 716 F.Supp. 407, 409 (W.D.Mo.1989). The defendant manufacturer contended that seat belts were part of the design of the automobile and, that if plaintiff is permitted to introduce seat design evidence, the defendant should be permitted to use design evidence concerning the seat belt to defend the reasonableness of the vehicle's design. Id. at 417. The defendant manufacturer also argued that it should be permitted to show that plaintiff's injuries arose entirely or in part from, inter alia, the failure to wear a seat belt. Id. at 416. The court held that seat belt evidence was not admissible for the purposes of establishing contributory negligence, assumption of the risk, or failure to mitigate damages based upon the prevailing seat belt statute [7] and a survey of common law from other jurisdictions. Id. at 410-16. With respect to the reasonableness of the vehicle's design, however, the LaHue opinion held that seat belt evidence was admissible: Defendant argues that seat belts are part of the design of an automobile. Defendant urges that, if plaintiffs are permitted to use seat design evidence, defendant should be permitted to use design evidence concerning the seat-belt part of the car. The case law supports defendant's position that an automobile is a product which may be considered as a whole. . . . . . By its nature, the defective crashworthiness design theory of liability requires that the vehicle be considered as a whole. . . . Accordingly, the jury should consider the vehicle's overall design, including safety features, in order to determine the crashworthiness issue, and, thus, whether the vehicle was defective in design. Id. at 417 (quoting Lowe v. Estate Motors Ltd., 428 Mich. 439, 410 N.W.2d 706, 719-20 (1987) (citations omitted)). Additionally, with respect to the causation factor, the court also allowed the evidence of non-use: Even though plaintiff may not have had a duty to wear a seat belt, and even though contributory fault would not be relevant in a products liability action, a defendant may attempt to prove that the injuries were caused by something other than an alleged design defect. If evidence shows that all or part of the injury is attributable to something other than a design defect, the critical element of causation is missing. In that instance, a defendant is not, and should not be, liable for harm which that defendant did not cause by way of a design defect. Id. at 416. The ratio decidendi of MacDonald, Gardner, and LaHue are persuasive, with respect to the admissibility of seat belt evidence to: establish the reasonableness of a vehicle's over-all design for safety; and negate the proximate cause nexus between an alleged negligently defective seat design or crashworthiness claim and the plaintiffs' enhanced injuries.