Courts: Send A Text To A Person Driving A Car & They Get In An Accident Reading It, You Could Be Held Responsible!

Perusing various sources of information reveals some interesting developments that can raise

texting and driving

questions about insurance coverage. For example, the New Jersey Appeals Court decided that sending a text to someone you know is driving—and who will read it at the same time— can lead to legal responsibility for the sender if the driver has an accident.

The judge in that case said, “when a texter knows or has special reason to know that the intended recipient is driving and is likely to read the text message while driving, the texter has a duty to users of the public roads to refrain from sending the driver a text at that time.”

The court also noted that if the sender of the text does this, then the sender "has taken a foreseeable risk in sending the text, has knowingly engaged in distracting conduct, and it is not unfair to hold the sender responsible for the distraction."

If this judicial reasoning becomes the norm and the sender of the text is held legally responsible—at least partially—for an auto accident, then is insurance coverage available under the auto policy?

Texting and Auto Liability

Let's say that a man named Mr. Smith decides to text a friend or business associate when Smith knows the person is driving and will read the text immediately. How will Smith's personal auto policy or business auto policy respond if the friend or associate has an accident because he was distracted as a result of reading the text?

Both the personal auto policy and the business auto policy declare that the insurer will pay damages for bodily injury or property damage for which the insured becomes legally responsible because of an auto accident. Currently, there are no exclusions in either policy that would prevent coverage for the insured under these circumstances; and at the very least, defense costs for the insured would have to be paid if the insured is brought into a lawsuit. Of course, some states have passed laws prohibiting drivers from text messaging and this could possibly be used by an insurer to deny coverage, but that is just one of the many legal issues that lawyers and courts will have to tackle when the claims reach the legal system.

Ronald Dwyer is an independent insurance agent licensed in Michigan for Home - Auto – Business Insurance and is a licensed Real Estate Agent/Realtor. He can be reached at rondwyer@roninsureme.com or 248-390-6345. His website addresses are www.roninsureme.com and www.dwyerproperties.com Linkedin address is www.linkedin.com/in/ronalddwyer and Facebook address is www.facebook.com/dwyerinsurance