A New Jersey woman who texted her boyfriend right before he got in a car crash could be held liable, as a judge prepares to rule Friday whether allow her to be named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by a couple injured in the crash.

The lawyer of Dover couple David and Linda Kuburt, who each lost a leg when Kyle Best hit their motorcycle head-on with his car in 2009, added Best’s girlfriend, Shannon Colonna, to the lawsuit. Colonna is accused of aiding Best’s negligence in the accident, despite not being with him in the car, USA Today reports.

Best and Colonna swapped texts before the crash. Best, of Wharton, admitted he glanced down at his phone to see who was trying to reach him before he struck the motorcycle.

"She may not have been physically present, but she was electronically present," Stephen Weinstein, the Kuburt’s lawyer, told USA today.

But Colonna’s lawyer, Joseph McGlone, said the accusation is unfair and unreasonable.

"Shannon Colonna has no way to control when Kyle Best is going to read that message," he said.



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/23/woman-could-be-held-liable-in-car-collision-for-texting-boyfriend/?test=latestnews#ixzz1vkVyOtPu