Walmart: Tracy Morgan, others weren't wearing seatbelts

NEWARK, NJ -- 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.

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.