LIVE Support

Live help by Velaro

• Car, Truck, and Motorcycle Accidents
• Slip and Falls and Negligent Security
• Insurance Disputes
• Child Injuries, Neglect and Sexual Abuse

Blog

Videos

Library

I was involved in a car crash, and I was injured -- but I wasn't wearing my seat belt. Can I still pursue a personal injury case?

A: Unfortunately, the short answer to your question is "Yes".  However, the value of your claim may be significantly or barely effected by your failure to wear a seat belt.

For example, if you were sitting in the backseat of the vehicle, Florida law does not require you to wear a seat belt.  Therefore, your failure to wear a seat belt probably would not be very relevant to your personal injury claim.

However, if you were sitting in the front seat, you were violating Florida law by not wearing a seat belt.  This most certainly will be raised by the defendant or his insurance company when negotiating your personal injury claim.

Additionally, in order to be a valid defense to a personal injury claim, the defendant must prove that wearing a seat belt would have reduced or eliminated the kind of injury complained-of by the injury victim.  Generally, this requires some medical or biomechanical engineering testimony.

Sometimes, the failure to wear a seat belt will clearly make no difference to the injury.  For example, if the roof of the vehicle is crushed in a crash, the injury victim suffers a brain injury, there is probably very little that a seat belt could have done to protect this from happening or to reduce the injury.

On the other hand, when vehicle occupants are ejected from their vehicles during a crash, failure to wear a seat belt is almost always a serious contributing factor.

If you have any questions regarding seat belts and the seat belt defense, call Orlando personal injury attorney Kim Michael Cullen at 407-254-4901.

Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Kissimmee, Casselberry, Altamonte Springs, Longwood, Lake Mary, Heathrow, Sanford, Winter Springs, Winter Garden, Clermont, Clearwater, Tampa, Lakeland, Cocoa Beach, Melbourne.  As well as Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, Volusia, Brevard, Polk, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Sumter, and Marion Counties

Free Book

Do I Have a Case?

News

FAQs