Personal Injury Law

Missouri Car Accident Trial Evidence - Can the Plaintiff's Failure to Wear a Seatbelt be Used Againt Them?

By Benjamin J. Sansone, Esq.

Experienced Missouri car accident lawyers must be ready to make sure certain types of evidence against their injured client does not get into evidence. In previous posts I discussed evidence of drinking and drug use as well as evidence of unrelated medical conditions. In this article we will discuss the limited circumstances wherein the failure of a client injured in a Missouri truck accident to wear a seat belt is admissible into evidence in Missouri a car accident trial.

If you are badly injured in a car or truck accident in Missouri, the jury usually cannot assess fault against you for failure to wear your seat belt.

Under Missouri Statute 307.178 - The failure to wear a safety may be admitted to mitigate damages, but only when (1) there is expert evidence proving that a failure to wear a safety belt contributed to the injuries claimed by plaintiff; and (2) may reduce the amount of the plaintiff's recovery by no more than 1%.

Also see the Missouri supreme court case of Newman v Ford, 975 SW 2d 147 (Mo Banc 1998), addressing multiple issues of a Missouri rear end truck collision involving the injured driver's failure to wear a seat-belt.

Full post as published by Missouri Injury Law Blog on December 10, 2010 (boomark / email).