The family of a US man who drowned after driving off a collapsed bridge are claiming that he died because Google failed to update its maps.
Philip Paxson’s family are suing the company over his death, alleging that Google negligently failed to show the bridge had fallen nine years earlier.
Mr Paxson died in September 2022 after attempting to drive over the damaged bridge in Hickory, North Carolina.
A spokesperson for Google said the company was reviewing the allegations.
The case was filed in civil court in Wake County on Tuesday.
Mr Paxson, a father of two, was driving home from his daughter’s ninth birthday party at a friend’s house and was in an unfamiliar neighborhood at the time of his death, according to the family’s lawsuit.
His wife had driven his two daughters home earlier, and he stayed behind to help clean up.
The suit claims that local residents had repeatedly contacted Google to have them change their online maps after the bridge collapsed in 2013.
The lawsuit is also suing three local companies, arguing they had a duty to maintain the bridge.
A spokesman for Google told newsmen that the company’s goal is to
provide accurate routing information in Maps and they are reviewing this lawsuit
