Contributory Negligence - Seat Belts

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- If you're in a car accident that wasn't your fault but you weren't wearing a seat belt, will it hurt your case?

When veteran newsman Bob Simon was thrown from the backseat of a cab and died after it clipped another vehicle, people were outraged to learn that the driver had nine driving suspensions on his record.

What seems even more outrageous is the lawyers for the car service claim that Simon is responsible for his own death, a galling claim given that he wasn't driving, that the guy who was had a horrible driving record, and that there's no law in New York that requires cab passengers to wear seatbelts.

But the most shocking part may be that Simon's estate will have a hard time fighting the claim.

Obviously, Simon is not responsible for causing the accident. But the other part of a lawsuit is figuring out how much money the party responsible has to pay the victim.

And to do that, you look at whether or not the victim contributed to the harm that befell him. So the party responsible will argue that had Simon been wearing his seatbelt, he wouldn't have been thrown from the cab and could have survived.

The law of the land says failure to wear a seatbelt will compromise your legal claim and the law of physics says it will compromise your safety. Buckle up.