If you were injured in a car accident in Georgia that wasn’t your fault, you are legally entitled to bring a third-party insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault party. Doing so could provide you with compensation for losses you suffered in the accident, including medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering.
But what if you weren’t wearing your seat belt at the time of the accident? Would you still be eligible to recover compensation for your injuries? Fortunately, the answer is generally yes, though the defendant may try to claim that, by not wearing a seat belt, you contributed to your injuries. This so-called “seat belt defense” is inadmissible under Georgia state law, although that might not stop an insurance adjuster from trying to convince you to agree to a smaller settlement than you deserve.
Because of this possibility, it’s important to get help from an experienced attorney if you were injured in an accident that someone else caused and you weren’t wearing a seat belt at the time. If you have questions about your specific case, contact a Duluth car accident lawyer at Brauns Law Accident and Injury Lawyers, PC today to discuss your options.
Georgia Seat Belt Laws
Under Georgia law, drivers and front seat passengers are required to wear seat belts. However, there are numerous exceptions to this rule, such as:
- Drivers who are backing up
- Delivery drivers dropping off newspapers
- Drivers who are in an emergency situation
- Drivers of vehicles manufactured before 1965
- Drivers of vehicles that are not legally required to have seat belts
- Drivers who make frequent stops to deliver items and don’t travel over 15 mph between stops
- Drivers who have signed statements from a physician stating that they are unable to use a seat belt
- USPS drivers
Georgia law also explicitly states that failure to wear a seat belt cannot be considered a type of negligence on the part of a crash victim. However, while an insurance adjuster can’t deny your claim just because you failed to wear a seat belt, they might try to convince you to agree to a lower settlement.
Why Am I Still Eligible to Recover Compensation if I Wasn’t Wearing My Seat Belt?
In Georgia, you can still demand compensation for your injuries even if you weren’t wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, as long as negligence on the part of another motorist caused the accident. If you can demonstrate that the other motorist was negligent or careless in some way (such as by speeding, failing to yield the right of way, or texting while driving) and show that their act of negligence directly led to the accident and your injuries, you should be able to recover compensation.
How Much Can I Recover If I Wasn’t Wearing My Seat Belt in an Accident?
While you can still pursue compensation if you were injured in a crash caused by another motorist, your financial reward could potentially be lower than it would have been if you had been wearing a seat belt.
When you first enter into settlement negotiations with the at-fault party’s insurance company, the insurance adjuster might use the “seat belt defense” to reduce the value of your settlement. They might argue that your injuries would be less serious if you had been wearing your seat belt at the time of the accident. Admittedly, this is often true.
Still, if the other motorist hadn’t been negligent, the accident would never have occurred in the first place. As long as you can present strong evidence of negligence, the insurance company will most likely have to accept some liability on behalf of their policyholder.
Insurance companies are for-profit entities, so they will use any excuse to minimize payouts. While they are legally barred from denying your claim outright, they might offer to pay only partial damages, or attempt to limit the amount of financial relief you can claim. If they refuse to offer a fair amount, you might be forced to take them to court.
If settlement talks fall through, your attorney may file a personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault driver on your behalf. While the vast majority of car accident cases settle before they ever reach trial, some are decided by a court. If your case goes to trial, both sides will present evidence before a judge, after which the court will render a verdict. Either side has the right to demand a jury, although a jury is not required.
Georgia follows a modified comparative negligence system, which means that the amount of compensation you receive through a lawsuit can be reduced by the amount of fault you bear for the underlying accident. For example, if you would have received $100,000 in compensation but are found to be 30 percent at fault, you would instead receive $70,000. Furthermore, you cannot receive compensation if you are more than 50 percent at fault.
Georgia’s state law § 40-8-76.1 specifically prohibits the nonuse of a seat belt from being entered as evidence of negligence. Consequently, if your case goes to trial, your lawyer should be able to prevent the court from knowing whether or not you were waring a seat belt at the time of the crash, and thereby prevent the court from reducing the amount of compensation you receive.
Contact a Duluth Car Accident Lawyer Today
Failure to wear a seat belt should not prevent you from receiving compensation after an accident that someone else caused. The insurance company will likely use various tactics to deny you the full and fair compensation you deserve, so it’s best to have an experienced Georgia car accident lawyer on hand to negotiate on your behalf. You are much likelier to secure a fair amount by hiring an attorney to represent you.
If you were injured in a car accident that occurred because of another motorist’s negligence, contact Brauns Law Accident and Injury Lawyers, PC today to get started on your accident claim. We have the resources to conduct a thorough investigation into the accident, gather evidence to support your case, and aggressively seek the settlement you deserve.
Reach out to our Duluth car accident attorneys today for a free consultation.
