Moriah Modisette (Photo : Perez Hilton)
A devastated family of Texas has filed a lawsuit against tech giant Apple Inc. being responsible for their daughter's accident. The driver, who was using Facetime behind the wheel while driving, caused the car crash.
The deceased, Moriah Modisette, the five-year-old daughter of James and Bethany Modisette was sitting in the backseat of the car when a speeding vehicle hit the car from behind. As per the police investigation, the driver of the car, Garrett Willhelm, 22, admitted to using the video calling feature on his Apple iPhone while driving on the Christmas Eve, in 2014.
According to the reports, Apple had already patented the "lockout" design in 2008, which would prevent the driver from using the app while driving. However, they failed to implement the software.
According to the design, GPS technology would be used to track the speed of the vehicle, thereby automatically disabling the application while driving. The family claims that Apple was aware of the risks of using their app while driving that instigated them to patent the lock-out design, yet they failed to install it on their phones and never warned users of potential dangers, Forbes reported.
Currently, the defendant, Apple Inc, is not responding to the pending litigation as well as not filed any legal response to the lawsuit.
The driver, Garrett Willhelm is charged with manslaughter, though the accused family and Willhelm lawyer are confident that after the facts are drawn into the court, it would be clear the incident was only an accident and Mr. Willhelm is not responsible for the crash, ABC news reported.
Similar to the situations like this, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently said that smartphones are responsible for the spike in highway accidents since 2015. In the recent conversation with the authorities, they stated that "they are working together with the industry to design technology that would discourage the drivers to use phones while driving.
As of now, the Modisette family is looking for compensation for the damages.
