Text Sender May Be Liable For Negligence Of Driver Recipient

The New Jersey Appellate Division has held that "the sender of a text message can potentially be liable if an accident is caused by texting, but only if the sender knew or had special reason to know that the recipient would view the text while driving and thus be distracted."

The court affirmed the grant of summary judgment against the plaintiff but disagreed with the trial court's reasoning that the sender has no legal duty to someone injured by the driver's negligence.

The defendant sender testified that she sends 100 or more texts a day: "I'm a young teenager. That's what we do."

Claims against the young driver were settled.

The accident occured shortly after the driver had left the YMCA and caused both of the victims to suffer horrific injuries.  (Mike Frisch)