5:30 PM -- By now we've all heard the one about the executive on vacation in the Caribbean who manages to surreptitiously check his email while murmuring "Yes, dear," to his nattering wife in the lounge chair next to him. Well, if you believe Gayle Porter, the CrackBerry sufferer might just have grounds for a lawsuit.

An associate professor of management at the Rutgers University School of Business in Camden, N.J., Porter has written a paper saying that tech additions, particularly to mobile email devices, will likely lead to litigation in the future. The target? The nasty employer, of course.

"These people that can't keep [their mobile-device cravings] within any reasonable parameters and have these problems in their lives, at some point may say: 'My life is not all that great. How did this happen? Who can I blame for this?' " Porter, who co-authored the study with two other academics, told Reuters. "And they're going to say, 'The company.' "

Here's my suggestion: If you get rear-ended on the New Jersey Turnpike while eating a Triple McWhopper and checking your email on your BlackBerry, you'll have the civil-action trifecta: lawsuits against the other driver, the cheeseburger-maker, and your boss!

— Richard Martin, Senior Editor, Unstrung