A New Jersey Appeals Court is considering whether someone who sends a text to someone they know is driving at the time can be liable if that person gets into an accident.

The case involves motorcyclists who were seriously injured by a driver who was texting and driving.  They sued not only the driver who hit them, but also the sender of the texts that the driver was reading at the time of the accident.  The plaintiffs claim that the texter, the driver’s teenage girlfriend, knew that he was driving when she was texting him.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to impose a duty of care on texters who know the recipient is both driving and likely to be reading texts while driving.

Several judges on the court appear open to this novel legal argument.

Click here for more.