Plaintiff given leave to amended complaint to include punitive damages claims based on defendant tractor trailer driver’s alleged cell phone use at time of accident.

The court granted the plaintiff’s motion to amend his complaint in order to incorporate punitive damages claims based upon the defendant tractor trailer driver’s alleged cell phone use at the time of the alleged accident. In addition, the court simultaneously denied the defendant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings on this issue. The court did not find the defendant’s argument that, as a matter of law, merely glancing down at a mobile device did not constitute a valid support for a punitive damages claim to be compelling. The court reasoned that dismissal of such a claim in the very early pleadings stage of a matter was inappropriate in light of the plaintiff’s allegations that the truck driver rear ended the plaintiff, resulting in the plaintiff’s death. The court further held that the purported evidence demonstrating that the truck driver was talking on a cell phone at or about the time of the accident creates a reasonable inference that the truck driver was willfully inattentive and/or distracted, thus permitting an amendment of the complaint to include punitive damages.

Case Law Alerts, 4th Quarter 2013