Cell Phones in Cars—Employees Crash, Company Burns

(The following scenario, courtesy of our sister newsletter, the Safety Daily Advisor, is based on a real case.)

Valerie Walker used her car as her office several days a week as she drove around the state visiting her company’s clients. Rather than waste the long hours on the highway, she used that time to make phone calls back to her office or to clients.

One day she pulled onto the interstate and set her cruise control for 77. Using her company-supplied cell phone she contacted a client with whom she hoped to make an appointment.

Unfortunately, because she was busy talking on the phone, she didn’t notice that the traffic ahead had suddenly slowed to a halt. By the time she saw the red taillights of the vehicle in front of her, she was almost on top of it. She jammed on the brakes, but it was too late. Her car slammed into a vehicle, pushing it to the side of the road where it overturned.

The vehicle Walker rear-ended landed on the driver’s side and slid down the road. As the car slid along, the arm of the vehicle’s driver was caught between the door and the pavement.

After a lengthy hospitalization and a series of medical complications, doctors had to amputate the accident victim’s arm. The victim, a widowed mother of four, sued Walker and Walker’s company, citing a state distracted driving law and claiming that the use of a cell phone while driving was unreasonably hazardous and therefore against the law. The victim asked for millions of dollars in actual and punitive damages.

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The Outcome

This case was settled before it went to trial, with the employer agreeing to pay the accident victim $5.2 million.

Several other cases involving employer liability for accidents caused by employees using cell phones have also been settled for millions of dollars. These include:

• The family of an accident victim sued for wrongful death, and the court found the employer liable for $20 million. The employer eventually settled the case for $16 million.
  
• An Arkansas jury found a lumber company liable after one of its employees struck another car, gravely injuring the passenger. The case ended up being settled for $16 million.
  
• In a highly publicized incident, an attorney discussing business on her cell phone struck and killed a 15-year-old girl. Her firm settled for an undisclosed amount, and the attorney was charged with a felony and ordered to pay $2 million herself.

When Do You Have Liability?

All of these cases have been based on the principle that if an employer supplies a cell phone to an employee, even if the employee is making a personal call—or if the employee uses his or her own cell phone for business—the employer can be held liable for damages if the employee injures someone in a road accident while using the phone.

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Because these accidents are occurring with increasing frequency, and because distracted driving studies show that people using cell phones—even headsets—are several times more likely to have accidents than other drivers, it’s time for employers to wake up to the liability involved.

The fact of the matter is that you simply can’t afford to ignore this problem if any of your employees drive on the job and might use a cell phone while driving. You need to have a cell phone policy, and you need to make sure your employees know it and understand why they need to follow the rules.

In tomorrow’s Advisor, we’ll look at some points your cell-phone policy should cover, and take a look at an extraordinary collection of prewritten policies.