An appellate court in New Jersey recently held that a person sending a text message to a driver of an automobile can be liable to a third party if the driver receiving the message causes injury. For liability to attach, the person sending the text messages must know the recipient is looking at the messages while driving. The court held that “a person sending text messages has a duty not to text someone who is driving if the texter knows, or has special reason to know, the recipient will view the text while driving.” In the case at bar, the court found that the plaintiffs failed to present sufficient evidence to prove that the person sending the text messages had the requisite knowledge.

Kubert v. Best, et al.

Trevor M. Cutaiar
tcutaiar@mblb.com