Could You Be Liable for a Distracted Driving Crash Because You Sent a Text Message to the Driver?

At the Delaware law offices of Silverman, McDonald & Friedman, we help clients who have been injured due to the negligence of others in Newark, Seaford, Wilmington and throughout Delaware. If you were injured in an auto accident because of a distracted driver, contact us to find out how we can help.

Most Americans are now as familiar with the dangers of distracted driving as they are about the dangers of drinking and driving. But those text messages that appear on the screen of a person’s phone don’t just appear there out of thin air. Someone who knows them types a text message to them and hits the ‘send’ button with the knowledge that the receiver will see and read that message within seconds. But what about those occasions when you know, or have a pretty good idea that the person you are sending a text message to is driving at the time they will receive the message? What happens if they open the message and read it while they are driving, and that distraction causes them to get into a crash that causes serious injury or death to another person. Do you think that you might share in any of the liability for the accident, given the fact that you are the one who sent the message?

That is the question in a Pennsylvania lawsuit about a distracted driving crash. A story in the Washington Post tells of the untimely death of Daniel E. Gallatin in a motorcycle crash north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Gallatin was struck from behind by a driver who was distracted by a text message. However, in this case, Gallatin’s family also sued the person who sent the text message that distracted the driver that killed Gallatin. Now the judge in the case has allowed the lawsuit against the sender of the text message to go forward.

The driver of the truck, Laura Gargiulo was driving an SUV that was owned by her family’s landscaping business. Timothy J. Fend, an employee of the landscaping company is the one who sent Gargiulo the text that she read while she was driving and smashed into the motorcycle that Gallatin was driving. Gallatin’s survivors’ lawsuit argues that Fend knew or should have known that the Gargiulo would have been driving at the time he sent the message.

To bolster their theory that the sender of a text message should hold some liability in the event of a distracted driving crash, Gallatin’s family is looking to a New Jersey case from 2013, Kubert v. Best, which ruled that the sender of a text message could be held liable in a crash along with the driver who received the message. In the Kubert case, David and Linda Kubert were both riding a motorcycle when a pickup truck sideswiped them causing them to suffer severe injuries. It turns out that Kyle Best had been texting a friend just seconds before he dialed 911 to report the crash. The Kuberts filed a lawsuit against Best and his friend Shannon Colonna, who had been texting him while he was driving.

The trial court dismissed the case against Colonna and the Kuberts settled their lawsuit against Best, but the New Jersey Appellate Division found that although there was not enough evidence to show that Colonna knew her friend was driving when she was texting him, the court also held that sender has breached a duty of care to the public by distracting the driver.

The case is still in progress, so it remains to see what the jury decides. It might be a bit of a reach to hold the sender of a text message partially liable when the person who received it is the one who decided to take the negligent action of reading it while they were driving.

Distracted driving crashes killed more than 3,179 people and injured 431,000 in 2014. It is completely preventable and if drivers took their duty to operate their vehicles safely and responsibly it would not happen at all.

If you or someone you care about has been injured in an auto accident caused by a distracted driver, Silverman, McDonald & Friedman is here to help. You may call us at 302.414.5553 or fill out our quick contact form to schedule a free consultation to discuss your injury case with a trusted auto accident attorney in Seaford, Wilmington or Newark today.

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• Distracted Driving in Delaware Nearly Doubled Last Year
• Smartphone Addiction and Its Role in Delaware Distracted Driving Crashes
• Distracted Driving Accidents: Is Technology the Solution to a Problem Caused by Technology?
• 70 Percent of U.S. Car Crashes Caused by Distracted Driving