Opinion ID: 1136194
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Pasakarnis

Text: Richard Pasakarnis was injured when his vehicle was hit broadside by another vehicle, and he brought an action for damages. There was no claim that Pasakarnis caused the accident. However, the defendants alleged that had Pasakarnis been using his seat belt, his bodily injuries would have been substantially reduced or prevented. The trial court and district court refused to recognize a seat belt defense but certified the question to this Court. However, logically and consistently applying the principles set forth in Evancho, this Court quashed the district court decision and held for the first time that the seat belt defense may be raised by a defendant in Florida. Pasakarnis, 451 So.2d at 453. Citing a study from the United States Department of Transportation as well as case authority from numerous jurisdictions, we found that [t]he seat belt has been proven to afford the occupant of an automobile a means whereby he or she may minimize his or her personal damages prior to the occurrence of the accident.  Id. (citing Spier v. Barker, 35 N.Y.2d 444, 363 N.Y.S.2d 916, 323 N.E.2d 164 (1974)) (emphasis added). We remanded the case for a new trial on the issues of whether and to what extent the plaintiff's damages should be reduced as a result of his failure to wear a seat belt. In approving a seat belt defense, we considered three possible approaches: Those jurisdictions adopting the seat belt defense have considered three different approaches: (1) plaintiff's nonuse is negligent per se; (2) in failing to make use of an available seat belt, plaintiff has not complied with a standard of conduct which a reasonable prudent man would have pursued under similar circumstances, and therefore he may be found contributorily negligent; and (3) by not fastening his seat belt, plaintiff may, under the circumstances of a particular case, be found to have acted unreasonably and in disregard of his or her best interests and, therefore, should not be able to recover those damages which would not have occurred if his or her seat belt had been fastened. Id. We declined to adopt the rule that a plaintiff's failure would be negligence per se, because, at that time, Florida [did] not by statute require the use of available seat belts. Id. We also rejected the second approach as well because contributory negligence is applicable only if plaintiff's failure to exercise due care causes in whole or in part the accident rather than enhancing the severity of the injuries. Id. at 453-54. In the end, we adopted the third approach. In our opinion, we also noted that [a] different situation would be presented if the defendant alleged and proved that the plaintiff's negligent failure to wear a seat belt was a contributing cause of the accident. Id. at 454 n. 3. Unfortunately, this language has been the source of some confusion and has been cited by some to mean that evidence of a plaintiff's failure to use a seat belt is only admissible if the failure can be shown to be a cause of the initial automobile accident. [6] However, as the authors of one commentary have observed: Such an interpretation ignores the second accident which is almost inevitable when an automobile occupant is not using a seat beltthat of the occupant's body's collision with the inside of the automobile. While nonuse of a seat belt may not be evidence of comparative negligence in causing the first accident, it most certainly is evidence of comparative negligence in causing the second, as is made clear by the Pasakarnis Court's adoption of the third approach[:] Nonuse of the seat belt may or may not amount to a failure to use reasonable care on the part of the plaintiff. Whether it does depends on the particular circumstances of the case. Defendant has the burden of pleading and proving that the plaintiff did not use an available and operational seat belt, that the plaintiff's failure to use the seat belt was unreasonable under the circumstances, and that there was a causal relationship between the injuries sustained by the plaintiff and the plaintiff's failure to buckle up. If there is competent evidence to prove that the failure to use an available and operational seat belt produced or contributed substantially to producing at least a portion of plaintiff's damages, then the jury should be permitted to consider this factor, along with all other facts in evidence, in deciding whether the damages for which defendant may otherwise be liable should be reduced. George N. Meros, Jr. & Mary W. Chaisson, The Seat Belt Defense is Alive and Well Under Amended Section 316.614, 14 Trial.Advoc.Q. 9, 10 (Jan.1995) (quoting Pasakarnis, 451 So.2d at 454).