sharminlaw

The Seat Belt Defense and Your Palm Beach County Car Crash Case: Part I

The seat belt defense is an affirmative defense a defendant in a Palm Beach County car crash case may raise to show that your failure to wear a seat belt contributed to your injuries and therefore, you should be found comparatively negligent.  The defendant must specifically and timely plead the seat belt defense or else it is waived at trial and the defendant may not introduce evidence of the plaintiff's failure to wear a seat belt to the jury.

The defendant must plead and prove that the plaintiff had an available and operational seat belt; failure to use the seat belt was unreasonable and the plaintiff's injuries would have been prevented if he/she had used a seat belt.