As Apple faces allegations that its iPhone device was to blame for a recent fatal texting-while-driving crash, TIME investigates the extent to which the company, and other smartphone manufacturers could be assigned liability for similar incidents. The article, which includes opinions from a variety of legal experts in relation to the case, says the consensus appears to be that Apple is unlikely to be held liable for this crash or future phone-related collisions. One expert, Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP partner Gail Gottehrer noted, “To say that an iPhone, when it’s being used improperly, or being used in an irresponsible manner, is responsible for the injury in this case is just too much of a stretch. If you think about it, then you would have manufacturers being responsible for all sorts of distractions. For example, all too often you drive past somebody who’s reading a book on the steering wheel. Does that mean that distraction is the source of an accident if it happens, so you would go back and sue the book publisher?”
From the news release of the American Association for Justice.
