Appeals Court Determines Truck Driver Glancing at His Phone But Not Reading or Responding to Messages Was Insufficient Action to Support Punitive Damages

This matter involved a collision at an intersection between a truck and a golf cart where both parties disputed who had the green light and who was at fault for the collision. 

The truck driver testified he had looked down at his phone when he heard a text message notification and saw it was his wife sending a message, but he was not looking down at the phone at the time he realized the golf cart had struck his truck. 

The court, citing back to a Sixth District case involving similar circumstances, noted that District’s precedent, that “‘mere use of a cell phone while driving a truck’ does not automatically provide a reasonable basis for a plaintiff to seek punitive damages.’” 

Use of a cell phone itself is insufficient to establish the necessary recklessness or conscious disregard for the safety of others to establish punitive conduct. 

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