21-9-2023 (RALEIGH) The family of a North Carolina man who tragically lost his life after following Google Maps directions and driving off a collapsed bridge is taking legal action against the tech giant, alleging negligence. They argue that Google was aware of the bridge’s collapse but failed to update its navigation system.
Philip Paxson, a father of two and a medical device salesman, met a tragic end on September 30, 2022, when his Jeep Gladiator plunged into Snow Creek in Hickory. According to a lawsuit filed in Wake County Superior Court on Tuesday, Paxson was returning home from his daughter’s ninth birthday party and was navigating through an unfamiliar neighborhood. Google Maps purportedly directed him to cross a bridge that had collapsed nine years earlier and had never been repaired.
Alicia Paxson, his wife, expressed her frustration, saying, “Our girls ask how and why their daddy died, and I’m at a loss for words they can understand because, as an adult, 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.”
State troopers who discovered Paxson’s overturned and partially submerged truck noted that there were no barriers or warning signs along the washed-out roadway. He had driven off an unguarded edge and crashed approximately 20 feet (6 meters) below, as per the lawsuit.
The North Carolina State Patrol had previously stated that the bridge was not under the maintenance of local or state authorities, and the original developer’s company had dissolved. The lawsuit targets several private property management firms, alleging their responsibility for the bridge and the adjacent land.
The lawsuit claims that multiple individuals had alerted Google Maps about the bridge’s collapse in the years leading up to Paxson’s tragic accident. They had urged the company to update its route information.
The court filing from Tuesday includes email records from a different Hickory resident who had used the map’s “suggest and edit” feature in September 2020 to report that Google Maps was directing drivers over the collapsed bridge. A November 2020 email confirmation from Google acknowledged receiving the report and indicated that it was under review. However, the lawsuit alleges that Google took no further action.
Google, headquartered in California but with a registered office in Raleigh, did not immediately provide a comment on the lawsuit, according to a spokesperson.
