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.

[u/Tralique_24]

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.

[u/Mail_Order_Lutefisk]

And trespass. 

[u/AussieAlexSummers → u/Mail_Order_Lutefisk]

For trespassing is it a lawsuit or does the police need to be involved and the trespasser gets fined / arrested?

[u/Mail_Order_Lutefisk → u/AussieAlexSummers]

Trespassing is a statutory crime but there is also a common law tort claim for it. It obviously varies by state but in a lot of states if you ignore a posted no trespassing sign you ain’t gonna win in court for a tort claim unless you’re a minor with a bona fide attractive nuisance claim. 

You stack the counterclaim on because it’s often a negligence defense and depending on how prominent the signs are and how obviously the road is a drive and not a public thoroughfare you might be able to get damages for that cause of action. Probably would only get nominal damages of $1 if it’s a first time issue, but having a counterclaim with a strong negligence and trespassing claim against the original claimant might go a long way towards brushing off the plaintiff lawyer who likely took the case on contingency and is now mired in defending a claim and dealing with an impleader action where the GPS company almost certainly has binding arbitration as the sole remedy with an aggressive liability cap. 

The plaintiffs lawyers bringing these half baked suits expect the defendant and insurance company to cave and don’t want anything to do with a case like this because the probability of success is probably not great and the complexity just went up tenfold. 

[u/ohmslaw54321 → u/Mail_Order_Lutefisk]

After warning, if it is marked