Facebook Proof Supplied In Wrongful Death Lawsuit

A wrongful death lawsuit in Chicago alleges that a motorist, who struck a 70-year-old man and killed him, was distracted by a cell phone. The family of the victim is claiming strong proof of the accident - a Facebook status update that the female motorist posted during the seconds just after she struck the victim.

The lawsuit accuses the 21-year-old motorist of driving a vehicle without focus, driving while using cell phones, and failing to stop in time to avoid the victim. The victim's family is pointing to strong proof in the form of a Facebook status update that the motorist made. The status update is dated December 7, 2010, at 7:54 AM. According to cell phone records from the victim Raymond Veloz, he made a call to 911 at that exact date and time.

The victim, 70-year-old Raymond Veloz had just been involved in a minor accident with another motorist, and had gotten out of his vehicle. He was standing at the other driver's car, when he was struck by Araceli Beas. He suffered serious injuries, including a partially severed leg and suffered severe blood loss. He was rushed to the hospital, but died a couple of hours later.

Beas later told police that she had been temporally blinded by the sun at the time of the accident. She was given a ticket for hitting a pedestrian. Determining whether Facebook use might have been a factor in this accident is going to be complicated. Efforts are now onto find out whether the timing mechanism on both Veloz's and Beas' cell phone were in sync. There's also a question of finding out whether Beas' Facebook page was updated immediately.

As electronic communication devices invade cars, California car accident attorneys expect to see more such accidents involving California motorists updating their Facebook or Twitter statuses on their smart phones. Such actions greatly increase the risk of an accident. While much of the attention on distracted driving accidents focuses on texting while driving and having a conversation on a cell phone while driving, the fact is that cell phones nowadays are used for more than texting and talking. Many persons use smartphones to frequently update their Facebook Walls, often doing so several times an hour. Many of these updates are made while the person is driving.

There have been too many studies into the accident risks that come with the use of electronic communication devices while driving, for California wrongful death lawyers to ignore. The most often cited of these studies was conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute last year. That study found that texting while driving increases the risk of an accident by a whopping 23 times. Motorists must be aware that if they're texting, talking on the cell phone, or posting messages on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or any other social networking site while they're driving, and are involved in an accident, they could be held liable for damages that result from the accident.