A New Jersey appeals court ruled on Tuesday that a person could have a legal duty to avoid texting with someone who is driving.
Disagreeing with a lower court, a panel of judges found that when a motorist is texting while driving and causes an accident, the person who was exchanging messages with the driver can also be liable for negligence.
But the bar is high. The intermediate appellate court made clear that the sender would be liable only if the person had a "special reason" to know the driver was on the road and would read the messages.
"When the sender knows that the text will reach the driver while operating a vehicle, the sender has a relationship to the public who use the roadways similar to that of a passenger physically present in the vehicle," wrote the court.
"[T]he texter has a duty to users of the public roads to refrain from sending the driver a text at that time."
New Jersey prohibits drivers from using a cellphone that isn't hands-free, with limited exceptions for emergencies.
The case involved a New Jersey couple who was riding a motorcycle in Morris County in 2009 when they were sideswiped by a Chevy pickup that had veered over the double-yellow line. The truck was driven by an 18-year-old who was texting, according to court papers.
The husband and wife, who each lost their left legs, settled their claims with the teen, but appealed a trial court's dismissal of their claims against his 17-year-old friend, who had been texting with him right before the collision.
In this case, the appeals court didn't find the friend liable because there wasn't enough proof that she knew her friend would look at her messages while driving and be distracted.
