Case Of The Texter Who Wasn’t Driving

TRENTON — “Keep your mind on your driving, keep your hands on the wheel.”
The words of that old Paul Evans song were given new meaning when, on Aug. 27, three Judges of the New Jersey’s Appellate Court ruled that a person not physically in a vehicle could be held liable for an automobile accident if it could be proven that his/her texting contributed to a distraction. The Court said that a person could be considered “electronically present” if they were texting the driver and had prior knowledge that the driver was operating a vehicle.
This particular case involved the driver of a pick up truck, Kyle Best, 18 who was texting with his 17-year-old girlfriend when he collided with David and Linda Kubert who were on a motorcycle.
Each of the Kuberts lost their legs as a result of the accident. They sued Best and the 17-year-old girlfriend texter. The trial court threw out the case against the 17-year-old texter. Then, the Kuberts appealed. This led to the precedent setting opinion of the Appellate Court defining the liability of third party texters.
The opinion read, “When a texter knows or has special reason to know that the intended recipient is driving and is likely to read the text message while driving,” they may be held liable. The Court made it clear that it must be very “fact specific.” Following their own advice they affirmed the dismissal of the suit against the 17-year-old. There was not enough evidence.
The Kuberts may appeal the decision to the New Jersey Supreme Court.
The New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety reported that between 2008 and 2010 there were 10,000 texting related traffic accidents in the Garden State.
In June of this year the NJ legislature dispensed with the fourth amendment protection of a search warrant after a traffic accident. Prior to this the driver had the Constitutional protection to demand the police officer obtain a warrant for the phone. The legislators passed a law requiring motorists to hand their phone over to a police officer when asked. Presumably so the officer could check for cell phone use at the time of the accident.