In an Accident, Every Detail Counts
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Video Transcribed: Seatbelts. Let’s talk about seatbelts. Hi, my name is Mike Ashworth. I am a personal injury lawyer in Tulsa. When I started practicing law way billions of years ago when I used a clay tablet and stylus to do my homework, you could not mention the use of seat belts at trial. It was absolutely forbidden for jurors to know if someone did not wear a seatbelt. Now, there may be a cracked windshield with what we call spider webbing. It makes it obvious that somebody was probably propelled forward because they weren’t wearing a seatbelt. But the law changed around 2009. Now, if you go to the Oklahoma Uniform Jury Instructions, what we call the OUJIs, they actually have laws that the court gives. The Supreme Court has worded the law that the judge gives in the event that a seatbelt is not worn by someone who’s brought a suit, and it reads this way.
This is OUJI number 10.17. You can go online it. It’s completely free to access. OSCN is the Oklahoma Supreme Court Network. You can look it up and read it for yourself and read all the other Oklahoma laws that jurors get. But it says, “An operator …” This is 10.17. “An operator or passenger in the front seat of a vehicle is required to wear a seatbelt.” Now that’s a mandatory seatbelt, and it’s been that way for years now. “Defendant has the burden of showing by the greater weight of the evidence that plaintiff was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the collision, and that some or all of plaintiff’s personal injuries, if any, were directly caused by his or her failure to wear a seatbelt.”
It continues. “If you find that the plaintiff was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the collision and you are able to separate the personal injuries that were due to the failure to wear the seatbelt, then the defendant is not liable for the personal injuries directly caused by plaintiff’s failure to wear such a seatbelt.” In other words, if the defendant can show by the greater weight of the evidence more probable than not that the plaintiff or passenger was not wearing a seatbelt and that a portion or all of their damages is because they were not restrained, then that carves into the amount of money they can recover.
It may completely reduce it to zero. It may carve it down 30% or 15% or 25%, but it’s important. So you need to note all these things when you’re in an accident. Did the plaintiff get out? Did you see them release the strap, the buckle. Watch things like this, if you’re able to. Now there is one other thing. It finishes with, “If you are not able to separate the personal injuries that were due to the failure to wear a seatbelt, the defendant is liable for all the personal injuries to the plaintiff.”
So if you can’t show that the plaintiff was not wearing the seatbelt and did not receive any injuries as a result of failure to wear the seatbelt, they get everything they’re asking for the subject to the other jury instructions. If you have a problem, you have a legal question, or you have any issues at all, whether it’s about personal injury, which is what I do, or any other area of law, give us a call at Wirth Law Office. We’ve got great professionals here that do everything, and it’s worth a phone call. You’re worth a phone call to us, so give us a phone call. We’ll take care of you. And you can reach me, an Oklahoma car accident attorney, at TulsaPersonalInjuryLawyer.pro, or you can go online to MakeLawEasy.com because that’s the motto of this firm. That’s our mission, our credo, make the law easy for you. That’s why we’re the legal pros and we’re here for you.
