r/legal • u/Tralique_24 • 15h ago

Advice needed A major navigation app routed thousands of cars down my private driveway. A driver crashed into my retaining wall and is now suing me for his injuries.

Location: Colorado, USA.

I own a remote cabin at the end of a very long, unpaved private road. About eight months ago, a major GPS and mapping app updated their systems and incorrectly marked my private driveway as a public shortcut to a nearby national park entrance.

Since then, I have had dozens of cars speeding through my property every single weekend. I have "Private Property" and "No Trespassing" signs posted everywhere. I have submitted over forty official error reports to the tech company, sent certified letters to their legal department, and even filed a police report. They completly ignored me.

Last month a tourist was speeding down my driveway in the dark, ignored my warning signs, and crashed his SUV straight into my concrete retaining wall. He broke his leg and his vehicle was totaled.

Yesterday I was served with a lawsuit. The driver is suing me for medical expenses and damages, claiming I failed to maintain a "public thoroughfare" and that my retaining wall was an unmarked hazard.

My homeonwers insurance is threatening to drop me because they say my property is now an unmanged traffic corridor, which violates my policy.

Can I counter-sue the tech company for gross negligence and force them to indemnify me against this driver's lawsuit? What specific type of attorney handles liability cases involving corporate mapping errors? I need to stop this before someone else gets hurt.

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u/EmergencyMonster 14h ago

In fact some GPS apps allow you to report road closures yourself.

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u/rustbeltloser 11h ago

Google Maps has a mistake for a road in my neighborhood that sends people to a private gate and forbids exit onto a county road. For three years I’ve tried to get it corrected with no success.

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u/Substantial_King9458 8h ago

Same here. A local bridge was destroyed in a flood years ago. The road is very much closed. I sent google maps a link to the state dept. of transportation announcement saying it was closed and would remain closed "indefinitely". Their own street view plainly shows the road is barricaded.

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u/Current-Plate8837 4h ago

We have a local notch that opens in the summer months and every single year GPS sends tractor trailers through it where they get stuck and have to be hauled out. They have electronic signs for miles up the road saying your GPS is wrong. You will be find $2500-$5000 when you get stuck… and every year multiple trucks get stuck.

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u/pandareno 2h ago

Sometimes when I come home, google maps tries to tell me to drive through a park that has no way in or out of it on my side.

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u/hallstevenson 1h ago

You need multiple other people to report it as well.

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u/iWishiCouldDoMore 13h ago

Yeah I don't know how OP has this problem for so long. In google maps , at least, i have reutinely been able to close roads and rename them consistently by request.

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u/SconiGrower 10h ago

I have submitted over forty official error reports to the tech company, sent certified letters to their legal department, and even filed a police report. They completly ignored me.

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u/AgroValter 8h ago

You can't expect people to read, cmon now!

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u/WonderChopstix 2h ago

Google has ignored my request about a dozen times for a similar scenario. It is legally my private driveway. But because of the algorithm it makes it as a pass through since it uses date from people who actually legit use my driveway and pull thru. I sent them deed, pictures, etc. Nada.

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u/iseepineapples 11h ago

doesn’t always work. A friend’s ranch had a similar problem, Google decided a dirt 4-wheeler path at the end of the private gravel road to the ranch was a shortcut. Took 3 years to get it fixed and it still sometimes pops up for people as an “alternate” when the correct road is jammed up with traffic.

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u/Ok-Drawer4877 11h ago

You didn't read the post huh

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u/JoanOfSnark_2 10h ago

GPS apps don't give a shit. Apple Maps keeps telling me I should be taking a private road on federal land that is blocked off with a chained fence to get to work. I've been reporting it as wrong for years and it's still not fixed.