WASHINGTON—A new suit filed in Illinois state court alleges a driver talking on a cell phone hit and injured a woman crossing the street, litigation that comes as the mobile-phone industry launches a new driver-safety ad campaign.
The suit, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court by the law firm of Corboy & Demetrio P.C., claims Mark Matuschka was distracted by a conversation on his cell phone when his vehicle struck Cheryl Mairson. The suit does not describe the nature of her injuries, but the <i>Chicago Sun Times</i> reported that Mairson sustained a severe brain injury and a separated left shoulder. Mairson is hospitalized in guarded condition, the paper said.
The same law firm filed a separate distracted driver suit Sept. 16, though there is a dispute whether cell-phone use was involved. Lawyers for Maureen Tarara, a traffic control aide employed by the Chicago Police Department, said their client was directing traffic at an intersection Sept. 2 when she allegedly was hit by a vehicle operated by Corzatte Freeman.
Neither defendant could be immediately reached for comment. Both suits seek damages in excess of $50,000.
Meantime, a $15 million lawsuit is pending in Mississippi where cell-phone use is implicated in a deadly accident.
Several months ago, a confidential settlement was reached in a North Carolina suit between a poultry company and the family of a six-year-old girl who was killed when one of its truck drivers—reaching for his cell phone—rammed into the back of a school bus Sheila Hernandez was boarding.
The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association Tuesday unveiled a new batch of driver-safety advertisements. CTIA and most national mobile-phone carriers oppose state laws—like those in New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia—that ban handheld cell-phone use while allowing hands-free communications. Some studies have found hands-free wireless devices do not markedly decrease the risk of having an accident.
