Home Demolished in Rowlett - Oops!

[WildBill]

If it had been hit by a tornado first, house number might not have been there. Sounds like a juicy lawsuit against the demolition company AND Google. But it's probably going to be years before the owners see any money. Unless their homeowners insurance covers it (and then files their own lawsuits to recover the non-storm costs).

How would Google be responsible? The company should know better than to do something without physical verification. Google is not responsible for the contractors stupidity and laziness.

Lawyers tend to go after "deep pockets", and Google, when queried for an address, pointed to the wrong location, contributing to the situation.
Plaintiff attorney will happily file suit and let the relative percentages of responsibility shake out in the litigation process.....
It's got very little to do with reality. Remember the McDonalds 'hot coffee in my lap' lawsuit?

IMO, suing Google has no chance of winning. It would be like suing Garmin or Apple because you got lost while using their GPS.
Most people don't know the entire story of the McDonald's lawsuit. It wasn't just a case of "hot coffee in the lap".

[ELB]

I don't think Google has any responsibility in this matter at all, but I wouldn't say there is no chance they will not be out some dollars, for defense if nothing else. There are lawyers and juries who seem to think that little money make you innocent and having a lot of money makes you guilty/responsible, and sadly certain areas of Texas are (in)famous for this. This is analogous to someone suing the firearms manufacturer because a thug shot him with a gun from that company - hence the PLCAA. In this case someone misused google, apparently, and mayhem resulted.

[WTR]

The Demo contractor is right "no big deal". He has insurance, the house and subdivision were already tornado damaged, the duplex was empty. They already have the land......2-3 hundred thousand later the owners have a new duplex......that's why you carry insurance. What can you sue for? The owners will be made whole. I'm sure Google has a disclaimer that goes along with rheir service. I just hope the city required proof of insurance large enough to handle the rebuild.