The Court of Appeal has upheld a Judge's decision not to find a teenage passenger contributory negligent for failing to wear a seatbelt following a serious accident in the matter of Stanton v Collinson [2010].

William Stanton suffered serious brain damage when the car he was being driven in by Matthew Collinson hit an on-coming vehicle. The car was being driven at more than double the 30mph speed limit and, although just within the legal limit, the driver had been drinking. Matthew Collinson was also not wearing a seat belt and was killed instantly. There were a number of other passengers in the vehicle including, it seems, a teenage girl sitting on William Stanton's knee.

The Judge in the first instance considered Froom v Butcher but, on considering the medical and accident reconstruction evidence, he held that no reduction in damages should apply. The reason given was that the evidence pointed to the fact that a seatbelt would not have sufficiently reduced the extent of the brain damage sustained.

The Court of Appeal agreed with the original Judge's methodology and upheld his decision. The Appeal Judges commented that the test in Froom v Butcher was that "in the absence of something exceptional, there should be no reduction in damages in cases where the injury would not have been reduced ‘to a considerable extent’ by the seat belt". Lord Denning's approach remained good law.

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