Seat Belt Defense Ban Wearing Thin: A Superior Court panel upholds the ban but illustrates its weaknesses

Contributor: Daniel E. Cummins FOLEY, COGNETTI, COMERFORD, CIMINI & CUMMINS

SUMMARY: This article provides a review of the recent Pennsylvania Superior Court decision in the case of Gaudio v. Ford Motor Co., 2009 WL 1530669(June 1, 2009) in which the Court voted 2-1 to uphold the legislative prohibition against the seat belt defense under Pennsylvania law as found under 75 Pa.C.S.A. Section 4581(e). The article notes that the constrained tone of the majority opinion -- and the strong dissent by Senior Judge James J. Fitzgerald -- can be viewed as another assault on what had been previously viewed as an ironclad ban on use of the defense in civil litigation matters. Although the article concludes that the time has come to end the prohibition on this defense, it appears that the change in the law will have to come from a legistative amendment given the clear language of the statute preventing the use of the seat belt defense in Pennsylvania civil litigation matters.

This article is reprinted here with permission from the June 29, 2009 issue of the Pennsylvania Law Weekly.(c) 2009 Incisive Media US Properties, LLC. Further duplication without permission is prohibited. All rights reserved. Please contact the author for permission to reprint or duplicate.

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