file photo by Art Gallagher
Telephone records show that Gov. Chris Christie and his current chief of staff, Regina Egea, exchanged a dozen text messages while a legislative committee was holding a Dec. 3, 2013, hearing on the George Washington Bridge lane closures and traffic jams that soon came to be referred to as “Bridgegate.” A timeline constructed by WNYC/NJPR based…
Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande announced yesterday that she will introduce legislation that will protect the sender of a text message from civil liability if the receiver of the text is involved in a car accident while reading the message.
Thank goodness, and let’s hope that legislation get fast tracked
In what can only be considered a gift to the overpopulated legal community, the Appellate Division of New Jersey’s Superior Court last week ruled that senders of text messages could be liable for accidents that occur while the receivers are reading them “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, the texter has a duty to users of the public roads to refrain from sending the driver a text at that time.”
What is a “special reason to know?” That is new legal distinction that will have to be defined in another expensive court decision, unless Casagrande’s common sense legislation is passed and signed into law before the next ambulance chaser gets his law school buddy on the bench to define it.
Imagine the cases, and legal fees, this new legal liability will create. Imagine the increases in insurance premiums, auto, homeowner’s, and business liability, this will cause.
If a spouse texts “pick milk” to his or her significant other during rush hour, and the receiving spouse gets into a car accident, the couple’s homeowner’s insurance company will get dragged into the law suit filed by the ambulance chaser.
Imagine the deposition questions asked at $250+ per hour per attorney:
Posted: September 5th, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Caroline Casagrande, Lawsuit Reform, NJ Courts, NJ Judiciary, NJ State Legislature | Tags: Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, Caroline Casagrande, frivolous lawsuits, NJ Courts, NJ Legislature, texting, texting while driving, texting while the receiver might be driving | 2 Comments »© Copyright 2024 | MoreMonmouthMusings | All Rights Reserved