Submitted by NancyHart on Sat, 06/18/2011 - 08:52
My daughter was in a car accident and ended up with some bad injuries to her left leg and wrist and neck. So she knows the other guy was at fault but she is worried that because she wasn't wearing a seat belt that she will won't be able to collect from this guy. I'm trying to get her to call a lawyer. We read the stuff you posted about contributory negligence law in MA but we can't figure out if that means that she can't win in a negligence suit against this guy. Please help.
Hi:Sorry to hear about this.
Hi: Sorry to hear about this. FYI, failure to use a seatbelt cannot be used as evidence of negligence in Massachusetts.
Attorney Chris Earley
Lack of seat belt as negligence
Attorney Earley is correct. Massachusetts, like a lot of other states used to apply the doctrine of contributory negligence to bar plaintiffs in personal injury law suits from collecting any damages if they were, in any way, negligent with respect to the incident that lead to the injury. Now, Massachusetts has moved to a comparative negligence approach, meaning any negligence on the part of the plaintiff may reduce the amount of damages the plaintiff can collect, but will not bar recovery unless the plaintiff was more than 50% at fault. You can read this post for a discussion of contributory and comparative negligence in MA.
However. under Massachusetts law, the issue of whether your daughter was wearing a seat belt or not is not admissible as evidence in a law suit in Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 90, Section 13A was amended by the legislature so to include this language: "Failure to wear a properly fastened safety belt shall not be considered as contributory negligence or used as evidence in any civil action." Hope your daughter feels better soon.