Library Blog: The Gothic Column

Thursday, May 16, 2013 @ 3:26 pm

Texting and Driving: Is a “Remote Texter” Liable?

Posted by Janis Fusaris

A New Jersey Appeals Court is considering whether someone who sends a text to someone they know is driving at the time can be liable if that person gets into an accident.

The case involves motorcyclists who were seriously injured by a driver who was texting and driving.  They sued not only the driver who hit them, but also the sender of the texts that the driver was reading at the time of the accident.  The plaintiffs claim that the texter, the driver’s teenage girlfriend, knew that he was driving when she was texting him.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to impose a duty of care on texters who know the recipient is both driving and likely to be reading texts while driving.

Several judges on the court appear open to this novel legal argument.

Click here for more.

Friday, May 10, 2013 @ 3:29 pm

New Title: Rebels at the Bar

Posted by Janis Fusaris

Jill Norgren’s Rebels at the Bar: The Fascinating, Forgotten Stories of America’s First Women Lawyers was recently added to the library’s “new book shelf.”

Spanning the mid to late 19th-century, the book details the life and times of eight pioneering women who were some of the first female lawyers in the U.S.  It explores their common struggles and the courage and determination it took for them to succeed in a profession that was shut off to them.

Some of the women whose stories are recounted are:

  • Mary Hall – the first woman admitted to the Connecticut bar, and whose license led to the first decision in the U.S. permitting a woman to practice law
  • Belva Lockwood, the first woman attorney licensed to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court
  • Clara Foltz, the first woman licensed to practice law in California

For more, read a review or an excerpt, or watch the author talk about her book.