Judge rules Venus must have phone examined
Distracted driving is alleged during wreck
Lawyers for Venus Williams must hire an expert to examine an iPhone that was in the tennis legend’s SUV at the time of a deadly car crash last year, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Attorneys for the estate of Jerome Barson — who are pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit — had asked the court to force Williams to provide the device over her legal team’s objection.
But Circuit Judge James Nutt instead ordered Williams’ side to conduct its own review of the phone and report the findings within the next 30 days. A phone must be treated like any other search for records in civil litigation, he explained.
“I liken a cellphone is no different from a file cabinet,” Nutt told Williams’ attorney Kevin Yombor. “You haven’t opened the file cabinet yet for yourselves.”
Williams has already given a sworn statement that she wasn’t texting, talking or using social media on the iPhone 6S Plus.
And her lawyers say they’ve provided AT&T phone records indicating Williams wasn’t “on, or using, her phone” in the 43 minutes before the crash and in the 17 minutes after it. The records show only a tiny amount of data was “passively” uploaded and downloaded, according to Williams’ defense.
Still, the Barson family attorneys say they have a right to dig deeper to explore an allegation that Williams wasn’t paying attention behind the wheel.
“We’re very pleased with the court’s ruling this morning and the judge’s guidance,” attorney Gary Iscoe said. “Distracted driving kills and harms many people and is a big problem in the community.”
Palm Beach Gardens police have said Williams was not at fault, because she was stuck in an intersection when her Toyota Sequoia was hit by a Hyundai Accent at 1:13 p.m. June 9, 2017.
Williams said she was traveling north from her younger sister’s home in the Steeplechase community to her home in BallenIsles.
According to a police report released in December, Williams entered the intersection of Northlake Boulevard and BallenIsles Drive on a green light, but the signal turned red while Williams had stopped to avoid hitting a Nissan Altima making a left turn in front of her.
The Altima, driven by Lauren Dowd-Shedlock, violated Williams’ right of way, the report stated. No charges were filed against the driver.
Williams’ lawyers have accused Linda Barson of “driving carelessly and recklessly” and not stopping the Hyundai on westbound Northlake before entering the intersection. Williams’ defense has also argued that the Barson car hit Williams’ SUV “as a direct and proximate result of the negligence” of Dowd-Shedlock.
In a February pleading, Williams’ lawyers wrote that all damages claimed by the Barson estate “should be reduced” because of the widow’s “negligence.” They also intend to argue to a jury that Dowd-Shedlock bares a portion of the blame.
Front seat passenger Jerome Barson, 78, died 13 days after the wreck. The cause was complications involving blunt force trauma, according to an autopsy report.
“I feel like it was an accident,” Williams, 38, said in a deposition last November.
The tennis pro’s attorneys argued in court documents that they shouldn’t have to turn over the phone “to satisfy a wild goose chase.”
They say releasing the phone would be a violation of Williams’ privacy, that it is “harassing” and that it would expose confidential information.
Under the judge’s ruling Wednesday, they won’t have to hand over the phone.
Williams next week will be playing in the U.S. Open in New York.