AIKEN, S.C. (Legal Newsline) — A couple allege SnapChat's "Speed Filter" app encourages excessive speeding and caused their daughter's fatal car crash.
Jeremy Paul Batts and Susan Beth Batts as co-personal representatives of The Estate of Kaiea Spring Batts, deceased, filed a complaint July 24 in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina against Snap Inc., doing business as SnapChat Inc., Evan Spiegel and Emily White alleging negligence.
According to the plaintiffs' complaint, Kaiea Batts was a passenger in an car on June 17, 2021, whose driver was using SnapChat's "Speed Filter" app, which allows users to record themselves traveling at high speeds in order to win potential rewards. They claim the car was traveling at an extremely high and dangerous rate of speed and crashed, which caused Batts to suffer fatal bodily injuries.
The plaintiffs allege the defendants' negligence for creating, providing, designing and installing the Speed Filter and for encouraging users, especially minors, to drive at dangerous and reckless speeds. They also allege the defendants negligently failed to take into account safety considerations in the design of the app and failed to warn or prevent excessive speeding.
The plaintiffs claim the defendants' were also negligent for failing to properly test and restrict access to the speed app in its design.
The plaintiffs seek monetary relief of more than $75,000, interest, trial by jury and all other just relief. They are represented by Gedney How, III and Gedney Howe, IV of The Law Offices of Gedney M. Howe, III PA in Charleston and Carl Pierce, II, William Early and R. Richard Gergel in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina case number 2:23-CV-03565-DCN