Is text sender liable if receiver crashes?
May 5, 2012 22:42:14 GMT -5
Post by PrisonerOfHope on May 5, 2012 22:42:14 GMT -5
You know, it's these greedy, unethical lawyers who are behind the ruin of our country! 
No one takes responsibility for their own actions anymore!
Morris judge to decide if sender of text is liable if receiver crashes car
3:18 PM, May. 4, 2012 |
Can a cell phone texter be held liable if the receiver crashes and injures others while reading the message?
That’s the novel legal question confronting Morris County Superior Court Judge David Rand, who heard arguments Friday on a motion to dismiss Shannon Colonna as a defendant in a lawsuit. Rand said he expects to issue his decision May 25, possibly through a written opinion.
Initially, Wharton resident Kyle Best was sued by Dover residents David and Linda Kubert, after Best, then 19, admittedly glanced down at his cell phone while driving to see who texted him around 5:49 p.m. on Sept. 21, 2009.
With his eyes off the road, Best admittedly wandered into the opposite lane of Hurd Street in Mine Hill and crashed into the Kuberts on their motorcycle. They were horrifically injured; among other injuries, one of David Kubert’s legs was torn off above the knee and one of his wife’s legs had to be amputated because the injury was so severe.
The Kubert’s lawyer, Stephen “Skippy” Weinstein, amended his lawsuit to include Shannon Colonna, then 19, as a party who aided and abetted Best’s negligence by texting him when she knew or should have known he was driving. Colonna’s lawyer, Joseph McGlone, asked Rand on Friday to dismiss Colonna from the suit, saying she owed no legal “duty of care” under the facts of the case.
“The sender of the text has the right to assume the recipient will read it at a safe time,” McGlone argued. He said there is no court ruling anywhere in the country that says a text-sender is liable if the receiver causes injury while reading the message.
“It’s not fair. It’s not reasonable. Shannon Colonna has no way to control when Kyle Best is going to read that message,” McGlone said.
Colonna said in a deposition that she didn’t know whether Best was driving when she texted him on Sept. 21, 2009, but also said she “may have known.” Weinstein said lawsuit discovery shows the pair exchanged more than two dozen texts during the day and he argued that Colonna should have been aware Best was driving when he resumed texting her after staying off the phone about five hours while he worked.
Best said in a deposition that he glanced down at his cell to see who texted him right before the crash. But a time sequence of the exchanged texts read in court show he was the last to text before the crash.
McGlone said that cell phone analysis showed that Best texted Colonna seconds before 5:48 p.m. She responded 31 seconds later. Best texted her back, and seconds later he called 911 to report the collision. There was no intervening text from Colonna between Best’s last text to her and his 911 call, according to the sequence.
Best pleaded guilty earlier this year in Montville Municipal Court to three motor vehicle summonses that arose from the crash: using a hand-held cellphone while driving, careless driving and failure to maintain a lane.
As punishment, he was ordered to speak to 14 high schools about the perils of texting and driving, and to pay about $775 in fines. His driver’s license was not suspended.
McGlone argued that the duty of care Weinstein contends Colonna should have shown is not supported by case law examples. A passenger, for example, can be held liable for a crash if he encourages a young driver to speed or ignore traffic signals but Colonna had no control over Best’s conduct since she wasn’t in the car, he said.
“She may not have been physically present but she was electronically present,” Weinstein rebutted.
www.dailyrecord.com/article/20120504/NJNEWS/305040026/Morris-judge-decide-sender-text-liable-receiver-crashes-car?gcheck=1&nclick_check=1
No one takes responsibility for their own actions anymore! Morris judge to decide if sender of text is liable if receiver crashes car
3:18 PM, May. 4, 2012 |
Can a cell phone texter be held liable if the receiver crashes and injures others while reading the message?
That’s the novel legal question confronting Morris County Superior Court Judge David Rand, who heard arguments Friday on a motion to dismiss Shannon Colonna as a defendant in a lawsuit. Rand said he expects to issue his decision May 25, possibly through a written opinion.
Initially, Wharton resident Kyle Best was sued by Dover residents David and Linda Kubert, after Best, then 19, admittedly glanced down at his cell phone while driving to see who texted him around 5:49 p.m. on Sept. 21, 2009.
With his eyes off the road, Best admittedly wandered into the opposite lane of Hurd Street in Mine Hill and crashed into the Kuberts on their motorcycle. They were horrifically injured; among other injuries, one of David Kubert’s legs was torn off above the knee and one of his wife’s legs had to be amputated because the injury was so severe.
The Kubert’s lawyer, Stephen “Skippy” Weinstein, amended his lawsuit to include Shannon Colonna, then 19, as a party who aided and abetted Best’s negligence by texting him when she knew or should have known he was driving. Colonna’s lawyer, Joseph McGlone, asked Rand on Friday to dismiss Colonna from the suit, saying she owed no legal “duty of care” under the facts of the case.
“The sender of the text has the right to assume the recipient will read it at a safe time,” McGlone argued. He said there is no court ruling anywhere in the country that says a text-sender is liable if the receiver causes injury while reading the message.
“It’s not fair. It’s not reasonable. Shannon Colonna has no way to control when Kyle Best is going to read that message,” McGlone said.
Colonna said in a deposition that she didn’t know whether Best was driving when she texted him on Sept. 21, 2009, but also said she “may have known.” Weinstein said lawsuit discovery shows the pair exchanged more than two dozen texts during the day and he argued that Colonna should have been aware Best was driving when he resumed texting her after staying off the phone about five hours while he worked.
Best said in a deposition that he glanced down at his cell to see who texted him right before the crash. But a time sequence of the exchanged texts read in court show he was the last to text before the crash.
McGlone said that cell phone analysis showed that Best texted Colonna seconds before 5:48 p.m. She responded 31 seconds later. Best texted her back, and seconds later he called 911 to report the collision. There was no intervening text from Colonna between Best’s last text to her and his 911 call, according to the sequence.
Best pleaded guilty earlier this year in Montville Municipal Court to three motor vehicle summonses that arose from the crash: using a hand-held cellphone while driving, careless driving and failure to maintain a lane.
As punishment, he was ordered to speak to 14 high schools about the perils of texting and driving, and to pay about $775 in fines. His driver’s license was not suspended.
McGlone argued that the duty of care Weinstein contends Colonna should have shown is not supported by case law examples. A passenger, for example, can be held liable for a crash if he encourages a young driver to speed or ignore traffic signals but Colonna had no control over Best’s conduct since she wasn’t in the car, he said.
“She may not have been physically present but she was electronically present,” Weinstein rebutted.
www.dailyrecord.com/article/20120504/NJNEWS/305040026/Morris-judge-decide-sender-text-liable-receiver-crashes-car?gcheck=1&nclick_check=1
