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Real Judge Agrees with Judge Carton in 'Google Map Slave' Case
Just over a year ago, Judge Carton considered the case of Lauren Rosenberg, who sued Google after she was hit by a car while following walking directions provided by Google Maps on her cell phone. In an ongoing series of posts here at LBW called Judge Carton Rules, a fake judge issues rulings to spare the parties to cases in which the outcome is obvious the time and expense of further litigation.
In her lawsuit, Rosenberg alleged that her Google Maps BlackBerry application told her to walk along a dangerous highway with no sidewalks to get from one Park City, Utah, address to another, that she slavishly followed this instruction, and, shocker, she was hit by a car while doing so. In his my wisdom, Judge Carton ruled that Google's "future motion to dismiss is hereby GRANTED and the plaintiff is forbidden from using any type of smartphone with Internet access for a period of 60 months. In addition, the plaintiff is hereby ORDERED to watch the video below within the next 30 days, and certify to this court that she has done so."
Perhaps because Judge Carton's rulings are not technically binding, Salt Lake County District Court Judge Deno G. Himonas felt the need to rule on the case late last month, as well (via Lowering the Bar and OnPointNews). In a May 27, 2011 opinion, Himonas similarly granted Google's motion to dismiss. Himonas found, among other things, that Google owed no tort duty to Rosenberg. The court further found that Google was a "publisher" in this situation, and that courts were reluctant to impose liabilty on publishers for providing faulty information.
Himonas notably spared Rosenberg the 60-month smartphone ban and the mandatory video review ordered by Judge Carton, however.
Posted by Bruce Carton on June 20, 2011 at 05:00 PM | Permalink
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