{"id":5818,"date":"2018-03-07T09:26:56","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T09:26:56","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2021-10-28T13:19:02","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T13:19:02","slug":"froom-v-butcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lawteacher.net\/cases\/froom-v-butcher.php","title":{"rendered":"Froom v Butcher &#8211; 1976"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Legal Case Summary<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Froom v Butcher [1976] 1 QB 286; [1975] 3 WLR 379; [1975] 3 All ER 520; [1975] 2 Lloyd\u2019s Rep 478; [1975] RTR 518; (1975) 119 SJ 613<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"alert alert-info mb-3 mt-4\">NEGLIGENCE, CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE, CAUSE OF THE DAMAGE,\u00a0 CAUSE OF AN ACCIDENT, ACCIDENTS, ROAD SAFETY, INJURIES, MEASURE OF DAMAGES, ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"facts\">Facts<\/h3>\n<p>The plaintiff was not wearing a seatbelt whilst driving because he did not like seatbelts and because he had seen drivers being trapped after a crash because they wore a seatbelt. After a crash, the plaintiff suffered head and chest injuries and a broken finger. Had he worn his seatbelt, the head and chest injuries would have been avoided. The crash was entirely the defendant\u2019s fault. The defendant contended that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence. The Queen\u2019s Bench held in favour of the plaintiff on grounds that there was no statutory compulsion to wear a seatbelt at the time. The defendant appealed.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"issues\">Issues<\/h3>\n<p>(1) Does one\u2019s failure to wear a seatbelt amount to contributory negligence under s. 1(1) Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 if their injuries would have been prevented or lessened if they had done so?<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"decision\">Decision \/ Outcome<\/h3>\n<p>The appeal was allowed.<\/p>\n<p>(1) Determining whether one is guilty of contributory negligence is a matter not of the cause of the accident, but of the cause of the damage.<\/p>\n<p>(2) The plaintiff\u2019s injuries, except for the broken finger, were caused by his failure to wear a seatbelt and therefore, he was guilty of contributory negligence.<\/p>\n<p>(3) For this reason, the defendant\u2019s damages should be reduced by 20 per cent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The plaintiff was not wearing a seatbelt whilst driving because he did not like seatbelts and because he had seen drivers being trapped after a crash because they wore a seatbelt. After a crash, the plaintiff suffered head and chest injuries and a broken finger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85],"class_list":["post-5818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cases","tag-uk-law"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Froom v Butcher - 1976 | LawTeacher.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The plaintiff was not wearing a seatbelt whilst driving because he did not like seatbelts and because he had seen drivers being trapped after a crash because they wore a seatbelt. 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