Court Opinion

ID: 9741760
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:01:33.202732+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:26.076042
License: Public Domain

COFFEY, J.
(dissenting). The deceased was killed in a one car accident when the automobile she was driving at 90 m.p.h. left the road and rolled over. The jury found that her excessive speed was a cause of her injuries. How can it be said that her negligence in driving 90 m.p.h., which caused the accident, was not a cause of her death? The answer of the majority is that seat belts are designed to protect the wearer from injuries suffered in an accident which may be the wearer’s fault.
The seat belt which the deceased was wearing, having been partially severed, previous to the impact was unable to withstand the impact of the accident at 90 m.p.h. The jury found the seat belt to be defective when it left the hands of the Ford Motor Co. As a policy matter, the majority has decided in this case that negligence as the cause of the accident (and, therefore, the injuries) of *649the deceased will not be compared with the product liability imposed on the manufacturer for the failure of the seat belt. I have reservations about the wisdom of this policy. When applied to the theory that an injury would have been prevented if the injured party had worn a seat belt, its corollary will result in re-introducing a form of assumption of risk into Wisconsin law. However, it is not the wisdom of the policy from which I dissent but the method of its application.
If the trial court had ruled as a matter of law that the defective seat belt in this case was the sole cause of the death, because the accident did not produce an impact which exceeded the protective capabilities of a properly functioning seat belt, I would not quarrel with the ruling. This record, containing no transcript of testimony, would furnish no ground for reversal. If the trial court had accepted the jury’s verdict that both the 90 m.p.h. speed of the deceased and the defective seat belt were contributing causes of death, I would affirm for the same reason. But the trial court made neither ruling. It granted a new trial in the interest of justice. Without a transcript against which to test that ruling, I am at a loss to understand how the majority can reverse.
The crucial question in this case was whether a properly functioning seat belt would have withstood the force of a crash at 90 m.p.h., protecting the deceased driver from death or serious injury as a consequence of her own negligence. This was a matter of proof for recovery as well as for defense. The trial court ruled that this question had not been fairly and fully litigated. Without a transcript, I cannot say the trial court was wrong.
It is the obligation of an appellate court to search for ways to affirm the trial court, not to act as a fact finder, independent of the record. In this case the search ought to end quickly, because there is no transcript. We should be assuming the answer to every question in favor of *650the trial court that heard the testimony and was able to apprise the credibility of the witnesses. I would affirm the order granting a new trial in the interest of justice to determine whether operating an automobile at 90 m.p.h. is causal negligence -as a matter of law.