This frivolous lawsuit against the tech giant led one expert to ask, “If Google told you to jump off a cliff, would you?”
The lawsuit in question involves Utah resident Lauren Rosenberg. Ms. Rosenberg used Google Maps on her Blackberry to get walking directions.
Problem: Part of the directions put Ms. Rosenberg right on U.S. Route 224 — a major highway without any sidewalks.
I think we all know what happened next. Completely unprepared for anything as daunting as a road without a sidewalk, Ms. Rosenberg was struck by a car.
Of course, Ms. Rosenberg blames Google for entire incident. So now she’s suing the company for over $100,000 for its “careless, reckless, and negligent providing of unsafe directions,” which ultimately led to her being “stricken by a motor vehicle.”
Even though Google maps offers warnings like the ones seen here, devices like Blackberrys don’t always have enough room on the screen to display these warnings.
In such cases, Google maps users are expected to use a modicum of common sense which, as this case demonstrates, is a recipe for disaster.
We’ll keep you posted on the outcome.