In a case of first impression, a New Jersey appeals court has held that a remote texter can be held liable to third parties for injuries caused when the distracted driver has an accident.
However, that is only true if the individual sending the texts from another location knew they were being viewed by the recipient as he or she was driving. And, in the case at bar, the trial court correctly held that insufficient knowledge was shown to defeat a motion for summary judgment by the defendant texter, 17-year-old Shannon Colonna, the Appellate Division of New Jersey Superior Court ruled. An accident that caused serious injury to two motorcyclists occurred within less than 30 seconds of when phone records show the driver, 18-year-old Kyle Best, last received a text from her.
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Politics already taints NJ Supreme Court
By Bob Ingle | The Daily Journal
August 15, 2013
People under the gold dome are scratching their heads over the latest episode in the ongoing state Supreme Court saga that seems more like a soap opera than a serious attempt to form a fully stocked high court to dispense justice.
It's hard to find anybody who accepts Gov. Chris Christie's explanation of events.
The governor called a news conference to announce he would not nominate Associate Justice Helen Hoens to lifetime tenure on the court when her first seven-year term is over in October. It was an act of gallantry, he indicated, to save Hoens - a 59-year-old Republican - the embarrassment, harassment and intense grilling that other Christie nominations have endured.
