Wal-Mart: Morgan, others weren’t wearing seatbelts

 NTSB 3D scan of the Mercedes-Benz limo that Tracy Morgan was riding in on June 7, 2014

NTSB 3D scan of the Mercedes-Benz limo that Tracy Morgan was riding in on June 7, 2014

Wal-Mart says actor-comedian Tracy Morgan and other people in a vehicle struck from behind by a company truck on a New Jersey highway in June weren’t wearing seatbelts.

Wal-Mart’s filing was made Monday in federal court in response to a lawsuit Morgan filed in July.

The accident killed a friend of Morgan’s who was accompanying the former “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock” star back from a show in Delaware. Morgan spent several weeks in rehab with rib and leg injuries.

Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. says the passengers’ injuries were caused by their “failure to properly wear an appropriate available seatbelt restraint device,” which it says constitutes unreasonable conduct.

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An attorney representing Morgan and the other plaintiffs hasn’t commented.

Authorities say the Georgia truck driver hadn’t slept for more than 24 hours before the crash.

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