Opinion ID: 1180974
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Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Comparative Negligence Statute

Text: When the Arizona legislature enacted the Uniform Contribution Among Tortfeasors Act in 1984, it added several important provisions to the model law delineated in 12 U.L.A. 63-107 (1975). These new sections constituted the statutory adoption of comparative negligence for our state. A.R.S. §§ 12-2505 to -2509. In any given case, the relevance of comparative negligence principles is normally a question for the jury. Cheney v. Superior Court, 144 Ariz. 446, 698 P.2d 691 (1985). If the jury does apply comparative negligence standards, the plaintiff's action is not barred, but the full damages shall be reduced in proportion to the relative degree of fault which is a proximate cause of the injury or death, if any. A.R.S. § 12-2505(A) (emphasis added). The essential question is whether a plaintiff who does not wear an automobile seat belt is at fault for injuries enhanced or caused by the failure to use the seat belt. Neither the Arizona comparative negligence statute nor its progenitor uniform law contains any definition of fault. We do note the instructive definition of this term given in § 1(b) of the Uniform Comparative Fault Act (UCFA), 12 U.L.A. 39-40 (Cum.Supp. 1987). Fault includes acts or omissions that are in any measure negligent or reckless toward the person or property of the actor or others, or that subject a person to strict tort liability. The term also includes ... unreasonable failure to avoid an injury or to mitigate damages. Legal requirements of causal relation apply both to fault as the basis for liability and to contributory fault. (Emphasis added.) As stated in the official comment to the UCFA, negligent failure to use a seat belt would reduce damages solely for those injuries directly attributable to the lack of seat belt restraint. Id. Thus, as far as the calculation of damages is concerned, the comparative negligence statutes apply the doctrine of avoidable consequences to pre-accident conduct. We are further guided in our determination of the fault issue by a series of well-reasoned seat belt cases from other comparative negligence jurisdictions. The first case is Insurance Company of North America v. Pasakarnis, 451 So.2d 447 (Fla. 1984), quashing 425 So.2d 1141 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1982). In that case, defendant sought to reduce the overall damages by introducing evidence of plaintiff's nonuse of a seat belt. The Florida Supreme Court concluded that the obvious importance of the seat belt as a safety precaution made its nonuse a pertinent factor for the jury to evaluate. The court properly refused to base its analysis on concepts of duty and focused instead on the plaintiff's conduct: 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 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. Nonuse of an available seat belt, however, should not be considered by the triers of fact in resolving the issue of liability unless it has been alleged and proved that such nonuse was a proximate cause of the accident. 451 So.2d at 454. In Smith v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 600 F. Supp. 1561 (D.Vt. 1985), the court responded as follows to assertions that it was improperly imposing a duty to wear seat belts: We are unpersuaded by such reasoning. First, admitting such evidence would not create a duty but would merely allow the jury to consider the information on the question of negligence. Second, the test of negligence would continue to be whether the person acted reasonably under the circumstances presented. The jury's discretion and common sense will remain as a check upon parties that might seek to make wild assertions of negligence. We do not presume to decide whether or not Plaintiff's failure to fasten his seat belt in the instant case was reasonable. We do believe, however, that the arguments on both sides of the issue are such that a reasonable jury could decide either way. 600 F. Supp. at 1564 (first emphasis added; second emphasis in original). Finally, in Lowe v. Estate Motors, Ltd., 428 Mich. 439, 410 N.W.2d 706 (1987), the Michigan Supreme Court considered the nonuse of seat belts as comparative negligence in an automobile products liability lawsuit. The Michigan Supreme Court also held that the duty issue was not the central problem. Id. at 461, 410 N.W.2d at 715. The court reinstated the trial judge's denial of the plaintiff's exclusionary motions. Id. at 475, 410 N.W.2d at 721. See also Hutchins v. Schwartz, 724 P.2d 1194, 1199 (Alaska 1986) (nonuse of seat belts is a relevant factor in apportioning damages in a state that has adopted comparative negligence by judicial decision). Our examination of the applicable caselaw and our analysis of the concept of duty lead us to the conclusion that the seat belt defense is not a question of duty at all. We reject those cases, such as Clarkson, supra, that rely on the absence of duty to reject the seat belt defense. We also disapprove the Nash analysis. At least under the comparative fault statute, each person is under an obligation to act reasonably to minimize foreseeable injuries and damages. Thus, if a person chooses not to use an available, simple safety device, that person may be at fault.