Google Maps Lawsuit: Snow Creek Bridge Death and Ignored Warnings

The widow of Philip Paxson, a 47-year-old North Carolina father who drowned after his Jeep drove off a collapsed bridge, filed a Google Maps lawsuit over the collapsed bridge in September 2023, alleging the app routed her husband to his death despite years of user warnings that the crossing was gone. The wrongful death complaint, filed in Wake County Superior Court, names Google LLC, its parent Alphabet, and the private owners of the bridge property.¹

What Happened on Snow Creek Bridge

On the night of September 30, 2022, Philip Paxson was driving home from his daughter’s ninth birthday party in Hickory, North Carolina. It was around 11 p.m. and raining. The roads had no artificial lighting, and Paxson, who had moved to Hickory with his wife Alicia and their two daughters in 2020, was relatively unfamiliar with the area. He was following turn-by-turn directions from Google Maps.²

The app directed his Jeep Gladiator onto 24th Street Place NE, a private road that crosses Snow Creek. A large section of the bridge on that road had collapsed in 2013 and was never repaired. There were no barricades, no warning signs, and no indication that the road ended at a gap in the structure. Paxson’s vehicle went off the edge and fell roughly 20 feet. It was found partially submerged in the creek the next morning. Paxson had drowned.³

Who Was Sued and on What Grounds

Alicia Paxson, acting as administratrix of her husband’s estate, filed the complaint on September 19, 2023, in Wake County Superior Court (Case No. 23CV026335-910). It names Google LLC and Alphabet, Inc. as defendants, along with three parties alleged to own or control the bridge property: Tarde, LLC; James Tarlton; and Hinckley Gauvain, LLC.⁴

Against Google, the complaint asserts negligence, gross negligence, and willful and wanton conduct. It also frames Google Maps as a “defective navigation application” under a product liability theory, citing North Carolina General Statute § 99B-4. The argument is that Google had a duty to provide accurate routing and to update its maps when it learned a route was dangerous, and that the company failed on both counts.⁴

The property owners face separate allegations that they failed to maintain the bridge, install barricades, or post warning signs at a structure that had been impassable for nearly a decade. The bridge sits on private land in the Hickory Woods development, which is why no local or state government agencies were named.³

The Warnings the Lawsuit Says Google Ignored

The distinctive feature of the Paxson case is the paper trail. The complaint alleges that a Hickory resident named Kim Ellis used Google’s “Suggest an Edit” feature to report the collapsed bridge in September 2020 and again in November 2020, telling Google that the bridge had “washed away” and the road was impassable.⁴

One report quoted in the court filings read: “You are not able to cross this road. GPS sends people down here, which is especially dangerous for emergency vehicles. Please update this map so GPS is accurate.”⁵ Google’s system flagged the reports as “in review” and sent confirmation emails, according to the complaint, but the route was never corrected. Two years later, the app was still directing drivers across the collapsed span on the night Paxson died.⁶

Robert Zimmerman, an attorney representing the Paxson family, said in a statement that “Google Maps misdirected motorists like Mr. Paxson onto this collapsed road for years, despite receiving complaints from the public demanding that Google fix its map and directions.”⁷

How Google Has Responded

Google has said little publicly. Spokesperson José Castañeda issued a brief statement after the filing: “We have the deepest sympathies for the Paxson family. Our goal is to provide accurate routing information in Maps and we are reviewing this lawsuit.”⁶

The company’s terms of service will likely feature in its defense. Those terms state that “actual conditions may differ from the map results and content” and instruct users to “use your own judgment” because “use of Google Maps is at your own risk.”⁸ Whether such disclaimers can shield the company from liability when it allegedly received and ignored specific warnings about a fatal hazard is one of the central questions the case will decide.

The Precedent Working Against the Family

Navigation companies have generally defeated lawsuits over dangerous routing. The leading case is Rosenberg v. Harwood, decided by a Utah district court in 2011. Lauren Rosenberg was struck by a car after Google Maps walking directions routed her along a rural highway with no sidewalks near Park City, Utah. She sued Google, reporting more than $100,000 in medical bills and arguing the company should have warned her the route was unsafe for pedestrians.⁹

Judge Deno Himonas dismissed nearly all claims. He ruled that Google owed no duty of care to Rosenberg because it functioned as a publisher of mass-market information rather than a personalized service provider. The court emphasized the “high social value” of mapping services and warned that holding Google liable could expose the company to “nearly unlimited liability.” The decision also cited the walking-directions disclaimer.⁹

The Paxson family’s lawyers will try to distinguish Rosenberg. In that case, the hazard was arguably visible to the pedestrian and no one had specifically flagged a danger at that location to Google. In the Paxson case, the hazard was invisible on a dark, rainy night, the bridge had been out for nearly a decade, and the complaint alleges Google received direct, specific warnings through its own feedback tool and did nothing. Whether that factual gap moves a court is the open legal question.

Where the Case Stands

The wrongful death case remains pending in Wake County Superior Court. No public rulings on motions to dismiss, trial dates, or settlements involving any defendant have been reported. The family is seeking compensatory and punitive damages; no specific figure has appeared in public filings.⁵

1
The New York Times. Google Maps Lawsuit: Collapsed Bridge
2
NBC News. Widow of Man Who Died Driving Off Collapsed Bridge Sues Google
3
CBS News. Google Sued for Negligence After Maps Driver Died at Collapsed Bridge
4
Regmedia.co.uk. Paxson v. Google LLC Complaint
5
CNN. Father Dies After Google GPS Directs Him Off Bridge
6
WHYY. Google Sued for Negligence After Collapsed Bridge Map Directions Death
7
Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky. Lawsuit Filed Against Google and Private Road Owners
8
Google. Google Maps Additional Terms of Service
9
Search Engine Land. Court Dismisses Google Walking Directions Lawsuit Claims