S.C. is a 19 year old girl from the Morristown, New Jersey district. She was recently pulled into a civil lawsuit concerning a car accident. The prosecution claims that S.C.'s text messaging habits caused the wreck that resulted in two passengers on a motorcycle losing their legs. The irony is this: S.C. wasn't even in the vehicle. The young woman was texting her boyfriend as he drove home from work. The prosecuting attorney amended his case to include S.C. when he discovered that she would repeatedly text her boyfriend, K.B. while he was driving.

The accident occurred in September 2009, when K.B. veered into a married couple on a motorcycle. According to his testimony, K.B. glanced down at his cell phone momentarily to look at a text from his girlfriend. This was when he lost sight of the road, hit the motorcyclists, and cost them both one leg. According to the court reports, K.B was the last to text back, so he may have been texting when the accident occurred. The time sequence of texts shows that K.B. texted his girlfriend. She then replied and he sent a text back seconds before he called 9-1-1. He pleaded guilty to using a handheld cell phone while at the wheel, and accepted the consequences. He was required to speak in 14 schools about the dangers of texting and driving, using his story as an example. He also had to pay about $775 in fines for his offenses.

Now, the prosecution is after his girlfriend. Though she wasn't in the vehicle, the prosecuting attorney believes that S.C. was in part responsible for the accident. According to K.B.'s cell phone records, S.C. texts her boyfriend constantly, but puts a hold on the messages for the five hours that he is at work. As soon as he clocks out, the two are back on their phones, chatting back and forth. When questioned, S.C. first said that she did not know her boyfriend was driving when she was sending him the text messages that day. Later, she backtracked on her claim, saying that she may have known that K.B. was behind the wheel while he replied to her texts.

S.C.'s lawyer told the courts that it is a driver's responsibility to choose a safe time to read a text message. The sender should not be held responsible for a bad choice on the part of the recipient. Also, S.C.'s attorney says that he has never heard of a ruling where the sender of a text message was held partially liable for the injuries of an accident just because the recipient was driving. This attorney says that the charges against S.C. are unreasonable and unfair. The girl had no way to control when her boyfriend read the messages that she had been sending him.

The prosecuting attorney states that while S.C. was not physically present for the accident she was electronically present. He believes that she was a viable distraction, and deserves to be punished for being a part of such a horrible accident. The married couple who both had to have one leg amputated is devastated by their losses. They already received a settlement from K.B. for the accident, but they hope that bringing S.C. into the case will give them more compensation for their medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. If you are involved in a car accident lawsuit, you need a lawyer who knows a lot about this field. Hire a car accident attorney today to help you in your case, no matter what the claim is.