MEMPHIS, Tenn. — You’ve heard it plenty of times before: Don’t text and drive.
Sending a text to a driver in some states might also get you in trouble. WREG looks at how texters who aren’t even behind the wheel face liability.
It’s against the law in Tennessee to text and drive.
“I see it on the sign. I don’t know why people don’t why people don’t. They got it up there no texting and driving on the highway,” said Betty Isom, who lives in South Memphis.
Betty Isom’s adopted grandson, Marcellus Anderson, is in the hospital after a driver reading a text message hit him on Union Avenue. The driver, Carlos Westbrook, faces a long list of charges, and in some states the person who sent the text to the driver might also be held responsible.
Personal injury attorney Janika White explains what’s happening.
“Tennessee, I’ve not seen a case like that yet, but Tennessee could potentially follow some of that case law,” she said.
White said courts in New Jersey ruled senders of text messages can be held liable, and now judges in Pennsylvania also ruled those sending texts may share responsibility. Like Tennessee, laws in those state don’t actually mention senders of texts.
“The court ruled that a person sending the text message to someone that they know to be driving or would have reason to believe that they’re driving, could potentially be liable,” White said.
Just because Tennessee law doesn’t speak specifically to sending a text doesn’t mean you’re off the hook if you’re sending a text to someone who’s driving. It also doesn’t mean you can’t be held liable.
However, White says these cases are difficult to try and win.
“I can’t really imagine how someone is going to prove the next element which is that you actively encouraged that person to either read that text or respond to it,” she said.
White doesn’t expect those who send texts to be charged with crimes but lawsuits are fair game.
“What may happen in these cases is where the sender of the text is involved you may send an apportionment of fault where they say you are responsible but we only find you 10 percent responsible and we find the driver 90 percent responsible,” she said.
Meanwhile, the message from Ms. Isom is this: “It’s dangerous. It really is. That texting and driving is not good.”
She’s still praying Marcellus starts to breath on his own soon.
In Pennsylvania, the case against the texter is still making its way through the courts. In New Jersey, judges eventually decided there wasn’t enough evidence to prove the sender encouraged the driver to respond to the text.
