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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Gardner

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/3/07

HB 337

SHORT TITLE

No Seat Belt as Negligence in Civil Actions

SB

ANALYST Ortiz

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Attorney General’s Office (AGO)

Department of Health (DOH)

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

Taxation and Revenue Department (TRD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 337 amends the Safety Belt Use Act (NMSA Section 66-7-373) to allow the failure to

use a safety belt or child restraint device to be introduced in a civil action to prove fault or

negligence and to allow such failure to serve to limit or apportion damages of an insurer or party

to the action.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

This bill would establish the so-called “seat belt defense" in New Mexico. Current law provides

that failure to use a safety belt or child restraint device shall not constitute fault or negligence

and shall not limit or apportion damages. This bill reverses that prohibition, and specifically

allows such failure to be used to prove fault or negligence or to apportion damages. The New

Mexico Supreme Court in Thomas v. Henson, 102 N.M. 326 (1985) held that creation of the

defense is a matter for the legislature, not the judiciary. Several New Mexico cases have referred

to the section amended by this bill, and have held that the nonuse of available seat belts by

House Bill 337 – Page

2

passengers cannot be used to reduce their recovery of damages. Norwest Bank N.M. v. Chrysler

Corp., Inc., 127 N.M. 398, (Ct. App. 1999); Mott v. Sun Country Garden Product Inc. 120 N.M.

261 (Ct. App. 1995).

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

New Mexico is a contributory negligence state. When awarding damages from an auto crash, a

jury is allowed to consider both parties’ actions and apportion fault. For instance, if the plaintiff

is awarded $10 but the jury finds he was at fault by 50%, the person is awarded $5. Currently

the law prohibits a litigant from introducing evidence that a person failed to use a seat belt as

evidence of that person’s negligence and, perhaps, the person contributed to their injuries. This

amendment would allow that evidence to be introduced in a civil action and for a jury to consider

such a failure when deciding the percentage of negligence.

EO/nt