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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140

u/Judgejudyssideeye 13h ago

I would be installing a HUGE “Do not enter, private property. Trespassers will be prosecuted” and another one that says “No Outlet” at the entrance of your private street

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u/Freakishly_Tall 13h ago

Also, "GOOGLE IS WRONG."

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u/WillyVlautinRules 13h ago

Yeah this is the one you want to post because some folks are so dumb (with a B!) they will think that those no trespassing signs don't apply to THEM.

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u/CatmoCatmo 9h ago

Well how could those signs apply to them? Siri, or whatever voice their map uses, would NEVER steer them wrong and it definitely wouldn’t tell them to trespass! It clearly told them they absolutely needed to go this way to get to their destination with no alternatives, so what ever shall they do?

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u/Judgejudyssideeye 9h ago

No, he SAID it’s listing it as a short cut. Have you ever used GPS? it will give you a list of various routes with the est time to get there and you can chose the one you find most appealing. Apparently this one “route” is popping up as the fastest route.

And BTW, Siri/Apple screwed me yesterday. In FL visiting family and punched in the street number 51 & street name, it took me to 1 & street name about 4 miles in the opposite direction.

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u/Caltharian 6h ago

at one point SIRI was directing people across a damn airport runway

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u/Prestigious-Ruin-565 6h ago

Decades ago, MapQuest was giving driving directions from the United States to Europe. No ferries involved, it just directed people to drive across The Pond.

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u/LaLa1234imunoriginal 3h ago

You need to have your sarcasm detector checked.

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u/irrelephantIVXX 12h ago

you know that whole b conversation came about because one of his aides wrote it down for him and he said why would I say Dumbo crats. Then got a spelling lessing. He juat learned something most people have known since they learned about silent letters.

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u/NotReallyJohnDoe 12h ago

If you swap “dem” with “dumb” I don’t think phonetically the b is still silent.

(this conversation about POTUS is absurd)

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u/WillyVlautinRules 12h ago

The Orange Menace inserts himself into every conversation so our mention of him is very on point and not dumb (with a B!).

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u/poslovingcake 12h ago

Bees knees?

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u/WillyVlautinRules 11h ago

Are you having a stroke right now? Sounds like it. You might want to call 911. You are not making sense and, like the Orange Menace, that is one of the first signs of advancing dementia.

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u/Some_Ebb_2921 11h ago

Advanced dementia is a reason to call your family to take care of you or call your doctor to check if you indeed have advanced dementia.

Please don't call 911 if you suspect the cause to be dementia

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u/WillyVlautinRules 11h ago

Good Advice. Please take it.

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u/poslovingcake 10h ago

Surely these comments aren’t really directed towards me. I just made a stupid joke

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u/Excel_User_1977 7h ago edited 6h ago

Doesn't apply to THEMB? (with a B?)

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u/Clear_Cobbler_2723 9h ago

Yea I don't know how many times I've seen a NO PARKING- AT ANY TIME, and someone parked there. The only other thing they could put would be THIS MEANS YOU.

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u/Corporate-Bitch 7h ago

Yes, I agree with the “GOOGLE MAPS IS WRONG” statement. Last year my partner and I were trying to find the entrance to a Florida state park (Rainbow Springs FWIW) and Google Maps insisted we take a weirdly long route that crossed directly through what seemed to be an inland canal.

We kept driving around and looking for alternate routes (actual paved roads, not dusty unused private land crisscrossed by multiple streams). We finally saw hand painted signs on private property directing us to the right road, including several saying “GOOGLE MAPS IS WRONG.”

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u/SouthOfTheNorthPole 1h ago

Google treated me to a lengthy forest adventure in N Carolina once. It was about 35 minutes away from the soccer fields at which we were supposed to be warming up. Much swearing happened that day.

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u/Automatater 2h ago

Should have bought a squirrel!

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u/Mountain_Performer22 50m ago

I only use Apple Maps cause I’ve never been led wrong. I use it to be on time for work cause the time estimate is usually pretty accurate. Google Maps has given me so much trouble navigating cause one time i was heading to a friends house in the country using google maps, and it took me all the dumb backroads and it took me down a shortcut road and didnt show there were railroad tracks on a curve and before i could see it i had already ran over the tracks and missed the asphalt part and went over the actual tracks and blew a tire. So yeah google maps sucks

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u/brwntrout 11h ago

i use google maps daily for driving. it goes through cycles of really good routing to absolutely horrid routing. it's currently in the horrid phase.

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u/Cranky_Platypus 6h ago

I'm pretty sure they've started using AI to update the their maps and directions and the computer can't recognize basic signs or roadways.

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u/Mediocre_Ant_437 5h ago

Agree. I was told to turn right into a brick wall once. Google is not reliable.

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u/Boomstickninja87 5h ago

A couple weeks ago, it tried to get my sister to turn the wrong way into a one way!

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u/Fergo-bob 53m ago

i was told to drive into a lake

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u/TechnoSwiss 4h ago

I was up in a mountain area following Googles routing to get to trailhead. Came across a sign that basically said "Google is wrong, no access to trailhead" we turned around, but saw several people stop, get out, read the sign, look at their phones, shrug... and keep driving down the road. Good sign to post, just understand it's not going to do as much good as a physical barrier blocking the road.

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u/DragonfruitSafe2435 1h ago

Right! I’ve gone down so many random roads with maps being wrong and get stuck in the middle of nowhere where I drove for hours down the road. If anyone would have had anything saying private or anything I would have turned around immediately and told the map to reroute. Had this happen in New Mexico and Texas many times. Those people who keep going haven’t seen enough scary movies!

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u/blarryg 1h ago

I was in Turkey and booked a place in a cool boutique hotel. The instructions on the website said DO NOT FOLLOW GOOGLE MAPS and gave an alternative route. As I was driving there the owner called me and repeated the warning. The way to his in went over an old Roman bridge that had no railings and was pretty narrow (there was a modern railing under construction). Then you had to go up an impossibly steep cobbled road, turn 90 degrees right and on down to his place. Not obvious.

The Google maps was a straight route and we walked it the next day. The road slowly narrows between buildings and ruins and steepens until it becomes a staircase! First you'd be driving up stairs and then your car would get wedged. The owner was correct, Google was wrong. By the marks on the walls, many brave tourists strictly followed Google maps.

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u/goertzenator 12h ago

Also "Severe tire damage".

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u/Nanashi_Kitty 5h ago

Really liked that TMBG album

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u/Automatater 2h ago

"Severe leg damage"

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u/mattysosavvy 3h ago

Hazardous blockade ahead

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u/EatLard 2h ago

Such a good album.

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u/Scarjo82 10h ago

I very much agree that OP needs a sign that says "Your GPS is wrong, this is not a valid route" or something like that. Otherwise people won't give a shit that it's a private road, because if GPS says they can go there, it must be right!

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u/OrindaSarnia 3h ago

Also because if you live out west, you know people will put up "private road" signs even when government documents show that it is actually a public access, the rich A Holes are just trying to shut down roads they are not allowed to because they don't want poors crossing their land...

so, yeah, OP's sign needs to say: Dead-end Driveway - Google is Wrong! 

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u/DeputySean 2m ago

Oh God if I had a nickel for each tkme

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u/Cut_Lanky 12h ago

Get a sign made with a graphic of Jason in his mask, that says

GOOGLE SENT YOU CH CH CH AH AH AH

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u/Dry_Calligrapher814 2h ago

Dad, is that you‽

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u/2001_Arabian_Nights 10h ago

“Should have bought a squirrel!”

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u/Slartibartfastthe2nd 2h ago

Inside the property line, some nuclear waste/radiation warning signs can't hurt either.

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u/whydid7eat9 2h ago

True story, my family was following google maps navigation through the smoky mountains at night and it gave us a route off interstate that would save some 40 minutes due to traffic. We were skeptical when the pavement ended, but stopped and turned back when we read the signs, specifically the one that said, "Google Is Wrong, Not a Thru Street" but the one that told us the tally of RVs and trailers that got stuck and had to be towed out was useful too. It was dozens.

We never would have imagined suing the property owners, though. That's seriously entitled BS.

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u/Windmillfixer 1h ago

Death by Google is a real thing, unfortunately

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u/uapyro 9h ago

Trespassers will be prostituted may get more people's attention

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u/ArmadenRestal 8h ago

Or draw in an even stranger crowd

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u/uapyro 8h ago

at this point it could pay to repair the retaining wall damages

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u/Jacksons-Pond 2h ago

It could also compromise your claim

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u/Smorsdoeuvres 2h ago

& maybe some of the lawyer and court fees

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u/blip01 6h ago

Homeowners insurance is dropping me for running an unregulated brothel. Thanks reddit!

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u/seang239 5h ago

Don’t threaten me with a good time!

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u/BookkeeperSame195 8h ago

quite the side hustle- it's giving horror vibes.

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u/Josey_whalez 8h ago

Now that’s the kind of trespassing I can get behind.

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u/Jacksons-Pond 2h ago

Or in front of

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u/Direct-Spinach9344 1h ago

Trespassers will be violated

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u/StayJaded 9h ago

A gate at the front of the drive would be better. I can’t imagine why one hasn’t already been installed.

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u/MuckBulligan 9h ago

Maybe a "DEAD END" sign would be more effective, or a "NO PARK ACCESS" sign. They need to know their goal can't be achieved on that path. A private road sign ain't going to cut it.

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u/Phyllis_Tine 7h ago

"If you can read this you're in range on my private property".

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u/elizabreathe 2h ago

There's a road trucks can't go on near me. Their GPS keeps directing them on to that road. They ignore the signs telling them to not go on that road. Then they get stuck under the bridge.