Tech company faces negligence lawsuit after Philip Paxson died from driving off a North Carolina bridge destroyed years ago
Discuss!
Tech company faces negligence lawsuit after Philip Paxson died from driving off a North Carolina bridge destroyed years ago
Discuss!
Well it seems clear who is actually to blame here.
Seems like most of the blame goes there but
It’s collapsed a decade ago and they’ve even tried to get Google to mark it so on their maps, unsuccessfully. Google must have some responsibility to the maps and routing.
No they don’t. Christ 🤦♂️.
It’s 100% on the local government to handle that shit. There are hundreds of sources for map data and I bet you most of them aren’t up to date.
Google Maps gave incorrect routing advice resulting (on their part) in a person’s death. It was a decade out of date, it had been brought to their attention and they did nothing. They still used that data in their routing. Obviously they have some sort of responsibility here imo.
Idk why you think I’d think differently if it was some other company, routing provider etc. If it was a municipal roadside map that showed that you’re free to drive off that bridge then it would be the same. Or even a private roadside tourism map.
Nope.
If the bridge had collapsed a few hours ago. No one would know. Due to this being a real risk. Just like anyone reading an older paper map. The driver of any car is entirely responsible for looking where they are going. Not some 3rd party navigation source.
Evidence that google is crap. In no way shape or form makes them legally responsible for your visual attention while driving. You are.
And google has faced these cases in a number of nations. Through out the erly addoption of GPS navigation in the 2000s. We saw many cases of folks driving into lakes and rivers. Because they were stupid enouth to trust the GPS system. Rather then use the minimal common sense of watching where they are driving.
Google map quest and all others never faced and requirement to take responsibility for drivers inability to drive.
After a decade. The local authority bears responsibility for failing to signpost. Or hell fix th fucking bridge. But even then nope if your driving, how long its been down. In no way relieves you of the standard job. Of watching where the hell you are going. Just means the local auth need to lose there jobs/ 10 years ago.
Guess what. Old folks crossing the road and falling over. Can happen with little notice. But if you come around a corner. And are not paying attention to the road. The fact that a little old lady fell and knocked herself out. Guess who is legally responsible for failing to drive safly when you crush the poor ladies head.
As someone with mobility and vision issues. Who is at high risk of losing my balance when travelling. It really fucks me off how many drivers fail to realise. They are responsible for driving a multi ton potential killing machine. And share the environment with the whole of society.
As soon as they abdicate that responsibility. Thay are basically saying people like me must remain locked in our houses.
Of course they had a part in the death. They routed him over a broken bridge. That’s their part of it. And not fixing the map after being told about the issue. Thinking they didn’t have any part in this seems bizarre.
There’s two problems here.
Firstly the map is out of date.
Secondly the road wasn’t blocked off.
The map been out of date is not criminal there’s no legal requirement that maps are accurate. However there is a legal requirement that a road is blocked off.
It’s the state that’s ultimately responsible not some GPS company. The above response right, how does it make any difference how long the bridge has been out for? Google aren’t actually responsible for updating a section of their map, Yes it would be great if they would do it, but they’re not actually legally required to do it.
“It’s not criminal so they didn’t have any part or responsibility” is something I don’t understand. Of course the routing was part of the reason this happened. Municipality’s/landowner’s part is how they hadn’t closed to road, put up signage etc. Google’s part is the bad routing. Driver’s part is well, the ultimately the driving. Thinking the routing had no part in the death just doesn’t make sense to me.
Ample time and opportunity to fix it, even being told about the issue. Of course the time makes a difference, if the bridge had collapsed 15 minutes prior then it would be less bad on Google’s side for not having made the change.
Of course there’s responsibility for the bad routing, even if they’re not legally required to update the map/routing. I doubt the case against Google goes anywhere but to me it seems obvious they share a part of the responsibility for their routing.
Not their problem. You can expand your definition of liability ad-nausium.
Bizarre thinking. Some rest stop owner puts up a tourist map pointing someone off a bridge and they wouldn’t hold any responsibility in your mind, not a tiny bit of moral responsibility if someone drove off the bridge while following the map’s advice?
In what world are you holding corporations to moral rather than legal definitions? This is about legal liability.
You don’t think corporations have any sort of moral responsibility? That’s fucked up, ngl. Of course corporations should have moral responsibility for their actions (or inaction).
I said “some responsibility”. You mentioned legal liability. I think there’s lots more to responsibility than just who is legally liable. To me that seems like a no brainer.
This is an article about being sued. If your want to change the scope you should be specific to what you’re expanding too.
And no, corporations are run by thousands of people all with a wide and diverse definition of ethical. I do not place ethical standards on them whatsoever. I expect them to act within the legal limits of the country of operation and what public opinion will tolerate. To expect anything otherwise is silly.
Thanks for the warning.
As much as I disagree with the idea that corporations don’t have a moral responsibility I suggest you read their comment anyway, since otherwise the convo doesn’t make much sense.
You’re confused.
You’re expectations of Google would be like demanding that the map company who printed maps must provide a free, updated map every time that the roads change. Life doesn’t work that way - sometimes people need to take responsibility for their own stupidity.
No it isn’t? My expectation is that if someone guides someone poorly then of course they have some responsibility and part in their death. Honestly it’s simple as that and it just seems like common sense.
Please refer to the Google Maps Terms of Service: https://www.google.com/help/terms_maps/
By using the service, every user agrees to these terms.
Section 3:
Actual Conditions; Assumption of Risk. When you use Google Maps/Google Earth’s map data, traffic, directions, and other content, you may find that actual conditions differ from the map results and content, so exercise your independent judgment and use Google Maps/Google Earth at your own risk. You’re responsible at all times for your conduct and its consequences.
https://ironcladapp.com/journal/contracts/terms-and-conditions-legally-binding/
TOS are not legally binding clauses.
As your own link states:
Ironclad is not a law firm, and this post does not constitute or contain legal advice. To evaluate the accuracy, sufficiency, or reliability of the ideas and guidance reflected here, or the applicability of these materials to your business, you should consult with a licensed attorney. Use of and access to any of the resources contained within Ironclad’s site do not create an attorney-client relationship between the user and Ironclad.
You can’t just guide someone off a cliff and say “hey, I said I wasn’t sure if that’s the route, so I have zero responsibility”. The idea that that terms of service absolve them of any part in it is just lol
If that person drives off a cliff because they trust a gps over their own eyes, then that’s fully their issue.
I think that might’ve hampered his ability to see well. Not sure how visible the drop off is in general, not to mention on a rainy night, so it could look like everything is fine and then the bridge just drops off to nothing, so it isn’t necessarily a simple case of “should’ve stopped if he couldn’t see” either.
In any case, even though the “issue” is undoubtedly his since he died and if you mean responsibility then of course everyone is responsible for their driving. I’m just saying that (imo obviously) there’s other parties responsible here too. Municipality/landowners for not fixing, marking etc the bridge so this doesn’t happen. Driver for their part in the actual driving and decision made during it. But also Maps for the routing and not fixing the map even though they were informed of the issue. Since we don’t know the specifics it’s impossible to say specifically how much each part contributed, but I’d say most of the responsibility is on the municipality.
I agree entirely. The local authorities should clearly block off and indicate hazards like this.
Google and the Town?
I’d say municipality/landowners, Google and the driver themself.
Municipality, land owners for not marking it, fixing it, making sure nobody mistakenly drives there. Google for routing him over it. Also the driver too for their part. Though not knowing the specifics it’s hard to say how much responsibility everyone has exactly but I’d say most of it lies on the municipality/landowners. Depending on who is supposed to mark those things over there.
So the lawsuit has merit? Because it does. And Google is culpable.
Not necessarily. Firstly because I don’t actually think there is any requirement that maps are 100% accurate, Google never a claim made anywhere that they are flawless. Secondly because if the city / town / local authority hasn’t put up signs, it’s entirely possible that they haven’t informed map makers either.
So map makers are not responsible for inaccuracies in their map, and even if they were responsible, they may not have been told.
There’s levels of culpability and in this scenario Google seem to be right at the bottom, if on the list at all.
So what you’re saying is that Google is on the list, and has some culpability.
It doesn’t fucking matter that they don’t have ALL of it. It only matters that they have SOME of it and all you dumb fucks keep saying that they do but that the lawsuit doesn’t have merit. But it does, because they do, and you all agree. Have yall never studied law before??
Not really. I think they have a part of the responsibility but as with previous similar cases, I don’t think they’ll see any legal consequences.
You just said they have some responsibility. Do they or don’t they??
Not sure what part of my comment makes you unsure on what I think. Yes they have some responsibility.