Google is being sued by a widow who says her husband drowned in September 2022 after Google Maps directed him over a collapsed bridge in Hickory, North Carolina.
Google failed to correct its map service despite warnings about the broken bridge two years before the accident, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday by Alicia Paxson in Wake County Superior Court. Philip Paxson “died tragically while driving home from his daughter’s ninth birthday party, when he drove off of an unmarked, unbarricaded collapsed bridge in Hickory, North Carolina while following GPS directions,” the complaint said.
The Snow Creek Bridge reportedly collapsed in 2013 and wasn’t repaired. Barricades were typically in place but “were removed after being vandalized and were missing at the time of Paxson’s wreck,” according to The Charlotte Observer. The lawsuit has five defendants, including Google and its owner Alphabet.
The other defendants are James Tarlton and two local business entities called Tarde, LLC and Hinckley Gauvain, LLC. Tarlton and the two businesses “owned, controlled, and/or were otherwise responsible for the land” containing the bridge, the lawsuit said.
“The Bridge Defendants refused to properly maintain the bridge, leaving it in a horrendously dangerous state of disrepair for years,” the lawsuit said. “The Bridge Defendants refused to place reasonable and proper barricades in front of the hazard to alert drivers of the deadly drop and failed to enact inspection measures to ensure that barricades remained in front of the hazard until necessary repairs occurred.”
The Paxson family.
Credit:
Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky
The Paxson family.
Credit:
Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky
Lawsuit: Google failed to make suggested edits
Pictures provided by the law firm indicate that “Road Closed” signs and barriers were placed on either side of the bridge, though those barriers were not there at the time of the accident.
In September 2020, “Hickory resident Kim Ellis used the ‘Suggest An Edit’ feature on Google Maps to place the Google Maps Defendants on notice that the Snow Creek Bridge had washed away,” the lawsuit said. In November 2020, after Google took no action, “Ellis again contacted the Google Maps Defendants via the ‘Suggest An Edit’ feature pleading for Google Maps to update its navigation system,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit provides the confirmation emails Ellis received from Google after both of her reports and says that she “was not the only citizen who notified Google of the dangerous condition.”
“As of April 6, 2023, and upon information and belief at other times thereafter, the collapsed bridge unbelievably was still depicted as a passable road on Google Maps when routing from [the birthday party site] to the Paxson’s home, despite the Google Map Defendants having been placed on notice yet again of the danger,” the lawsuit said.
The family learned after the accident that residents called it the “Bridge to Nowhere,” according to law firm Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky’s press release. “We’ve discovered that Google Maps misdirected motorists like Mr. Paxson onto this collapsed road for years, despite receiving complaints from the public demanding that Google fix its map and directions to mark the road as closed,” attorney Robert Zimmerman said in the press release. He said that Google “refused to correct its mapping algorithms despite repeated pleas” from residents.
Google: “We are reviewing this lawsuit”
Paxson’s car after the accident.
Credit:
Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky
Paxson’s car after the accident.
Credit:
Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky
Google hasn’t provided a specific response to the Maps allegations but said it is reviewing the lawsuit. “We have the deepest sympathies for the Paxson family. Our goal is to provide accurate routing information in Maps and we are reviewing this lawsuit,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement provided to Ars.
We sent an email to Hinckley Gauvain, a real estate development company, and will update this article if we get a response. We were unable to reach Tarde and Tarlton.
“Our girls ask how and why their daddy died, and I’m at a loss for words… I still can’t understand how those responsible for the GPS directions, and the bridge, could have acted with so little regard for human life,” Alicia Paxson was quoted as saying in the law firm’s press release. “Google ignored the concerned community voices telling them to change its map and directions.”
It was dark and rainy on September 30, 2022, when Philip Paxson drove home from a friend’s house where the Paxsons celebrated their daughter’s ninth birthday and their friend’s child’s birthday.
“Mr. and Mrs. Paxson drove separately to the party because Mrs. Paxson went early to help set up, while Mr. Paxson finished getting the girls ready and drove them to the party,” the lawsuit said. “At the conclusion of the party, Mrs. Paxson took her daughters home while Mr. Paxson stayed to help clean up after the party. After Mr. Paxson assisted in the party cleanup, he drove his Jeep Gladiator towards his home in Hickory.”
Bridge area was “pitch black”
Philip Paxson wasn’t familiar with the area and didn’t know the bridge was collapsed, the lawsuit said. “Google Maps directed Mr. Paxson to travel home over the Snow Creek Bridge. Unbeknownst to Mr. Paxson, a very large section of the Snow Creek Bridge had collapsed in 2013 and was never repaired,” the lawsuit said.
There was no artificial lighting, “and the area was pitch black at 11:00 p.m.,” the lawsuit said, adding:
While following the dangerous directions the Google Map Defendants provided, Mr. Paxson’s vehicle drove off the unguarded edge of the bridge and crashed approximately twenty feet below. Mr. Paxson tragically drowned, leaving behind his wife, Alicia, his two young daughters, his parents, siblings, and countless family members and friends who loved him.
Days after the fatal accident, Alicia Paxson expressed shock that the bridge hadn’t been fixed or closed off since 2013. “How is it nine years that this did not happen, and why did it have to be him?” she said at the time, according to Fox8 WGHP. “Who’s responsible? Somebody is responsible,” she said.
The lawsuit accuses Google, Alphabet, and the bridge-site owners of “negligent, grossly negligent, willful and wanton conduct.” Alicia Paxson is demanding a jury trial and seeks compensatory and punitive damages.
Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry.
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