No blame attached to beltless car passenger
A car passenger who was paralyzed from the waist down in a road accident bears no responsibility for his injuries even though he was not wearing a seat belt, the Supreme Court found in a decision made public yesterday. Upholding an appeals court decision, Greece’s highest court for civil and criminal cases ruled that the force of the collision was such that even had the passenger been wearing a seat belt he would have been injured. The Supreme Court said the driver’s careless handling of his vehicle caused the accident, which cost the passenger the use of his legs and rendered him incapable of working. A lower court had accepted the car driver’s argument that his passenger should be appropriated at least 25 percent of the blame for the injury, as he had neglected to take the precaution of wearing a safety belt. This was rejected by the appeals court.
