Phone exam ordered

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. Williams has already given a sworn statement that she wasn’t texting, talking or using social media on the phone. 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. Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., 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’ lawyers have accused Linda

Barson of “driving carelessly and recklessly.” Front seat passenger

Jerome Barson, 78, died 13 days after the wreck.