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Auto Accidents, New Jersey, Personal Injury
Injured by a Texting Driver in New Jersey
Uploaded on: Jun 14, 2022
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Duration: 2.5 Min

Video Description

One of the most dangerous habits on the road is texting while driving. Consider this: At fifty-five miles per hour, sending or reading a text is like driving the length of a football field with your eyes closed. The victim of a driver who was texting is entitled to receive compensation from their own car insurance policy’s personal injury protection (or PIP) benefits. These benefits will cover any medical bills up to the policy limit, as well as lost wages if the injured person has to miss work because of the accident.

Although it’s relatively easy to receive compensation from PIP benefits, there are limitations.

If PIP benefits are unavailable or won’t cover the full amount of medical costs, the injured person will have to file a lawsuit against the party responsible for the accident.

SUING THE DISTRACTED DRIVER

Fortunately, a person injured by a driver who was texting can usually win a lawsuit. In any personal injury case, a person can be held liable if they had a duty to exercise reasonable care and their failure to do so injured someone else. New Jersey law makes it illegal to text while driving, so texting is extremely strong evidence that someone was not driving with reasonable care.

A lawyer can analyze the facts of the accident, use the discovery process to find evidence that the other driver was distracted by texting, and develop a persuasive argument that will either convince the driver’s insurance to settle or win a verdict at trial.

In the case of Scianni versus Suriano, a defendant in a car accident case used the other driver’s cell phone records to prove the other driver was on the phone at the time of the accident. Even without an eyewitness to testify someone was texting or calling, a person’s cell phone records can prove that they were distracted and therefore at fault for an accident.

SUING A PERSON WHO TEXTED THE DRIVER

New Jersey also allows a person injured by a distracted driver to sue the person who texted the driver. Although these lawsuits are only possible under a limited set of circumstances, it may still be worth it if the driver and the insurance payouts did not cover the full extent of the injuries.

In 2013, New Jersey became the first state in the country to allow lawsuits against the sender of a text message in a car accident case. In the case of Kubert versus Best, a married couple suffered severe injuries after a teenager crashed his truck into their motorcycle while texting. The couple sued the teenager’s friend for sending the text that distracted him. Ultimately, the court did not find the teenager’s friend liable because she had no way of knowing the teenager was driving, but it ruled that she could have been liable if she had known.

If you or a loved one has been injured by a driver who was texting, contact Rosenblum Law for a free, no-obligation consultation.

Why Choose Rosenblum Law?

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