Court Opinion

ID: 9530288
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:58:52.670858+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:04.054936
License: Public Domain

SPECIAL CONCURRENCE
PAGE, Justice
(concurring specially).
I concur in the result reached by the court in this ease. I do so because the plain language of Minn.Stat. § 169.685, subd. 4 (1996), unambiguously precludes evidence of seat belt use or nonuse in any litigation. Further, I understand that the decision to preclude such evidence is the legislature’s prerogative. Nonetheless, I find the result disturbing in light of Minnesota law mandating seat belt use.
*498The state requires the occupants of a motor vehicle to wear a seat belt, and failure to do so results in punishment by fíne. Minn. Stat. § 169.686 (1996).1 At the same time, under section 169.685, if an occupant’s seat belt fails because it is defective and either causes or exacerbates the occupant’s injury, no cause of action exists against the seat belt or vehicle manufacturer based on the defect because evidence of seat belt use is not admissible at trial. While it is the legislature’s prerogative to exclude such evidence, I submit that the result produced runs against logic and is unfair. Although the seat belt gag rule’s enactment in 1963 may have been the logical result of the “unproven” safety record of seat belts at the time, coupled with the manufacturers’ simultaneous duty to install them in all vehicles, the safety benefits provided by seat belt usage are not “unproven” today. At a minimum, a plaintiff who is injured or whose injuries are exacerbated by a defective seat belt ought to have some recourse against the seat belt or vehicle manufacturer.
Currently, one need only pick up the newspaper on any given day to find out that there is a national debate concerning the safety of motor vehicle supplemental restraint systems, i.e., airbags, much like the debate that occurred in 1963 with respect to seat belts. The controversy over airbag safety was prompted by the number of injuries and deaths to small adults, children, and infants as a result of airbag deployment in otherwise minor low speed/low impact accidents. I suspect that Minnesota’s citizens will be shocked to learn that if they or one of their loved ones are killed or severely injured by the deployment of their vehicle’s airbag in one of these low speed/low impact accidents, they will not have a cause of action against the vehicle’s or the airbag’s manufacturer. This is so even though there is no airbag “gag rule.” It is so because auto manufacturers warn that for airbags to be effective, the vehicle’s occupants must be properly buckled into the vehicle’s seat belt and because under Minn.Stat. § 169.685, subd.4, as we interpret it today, evidence of the injured party’s use of a seat belt could not properly be admitted into evidence. Such an outcome is simply wrong.

. The statute states, in relevant part:
Subdivision 1. Seat belt requirement. A properly adjusted and fastened seat belt, including both the shoulder and lap belt when the vehicle is so equipped, shall be worn by:
(1) the driver of a passenger vehicle or commercial motor vehicle;
(2) a passenger riding in the front seat of a passenger vehicle or commercial motor vehicle; and
(3)a passenger riding in any seat of a passenger vehicle who is older than three but younger than 11 years of age.
A person who is 15 years of age or older and who violates clause (1) or (2) is subject to a fine of $25. The driver of the passenger vehicle or commercial motor vehicle in which the violation occurred is subject to a $25 fine for a violation of clause (2) or (3) by a child of the driver under the age of 15 or any child under the age of 11.