A woman from L.A. has filed a lawsuit against Internet leviathan Google, claiming that the walking directions she was given by its Google Maps site led her to walk down a Utah highway, where she was hit by a car.

According to the lawsuit, on Jan. 19, the plaintiff was attempting to get from one address in Park City, Utah, to another by pedestrian power. She checked Google Maps for walking directions and was told that part of the walk included a .5-mile jaunt down Deer Valley Drive, AKA Utah State Route 224, a rural highway on the edge of the small town best known as the home of the Sundance Film Festival. While walking this stretch of road, the plaintiff was struck by a car.

From her lawyer:

As a direct and proximate cause of Defendant Google’s careless, reckless and negligent providing of unsafe directions, [the plaintiff] was led onto a dangerous highway, and was thereby stricken by a motor vehicle, causing her to suffer sever permanent physical, emotional, and mental injuries, including pain and suffering.

She’s suing Google for $100,000 in medical expenses and additional punitive damages; the vehicle’s driver is also named in the suit.

As PC World points out in its story about the lawsuit Google Maps does have a caveat to readers in a highlighted box directly above the directions:
“Walking directions are in beta.
Use caution – This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths.”

However, the plaintiff says she got the directions on her Blackberry and this warning does not appear on mobile devices.

What do you think: Does the plaintiff have a point? Or should she have just gotten a cab?

Woman Sues Google for Bad Directions [PC World]

UPDATE: This story was originally reported by SearchEngineLand, enjoy the tale of how it eventually made it to the AP.

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