Lewistown News.com
Lewistown News.com
On January 25, 2007, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a writ of habeas corpus based, in part, by estimates made by management to conduct popular Mapquest to determine that petitioner's counsel does not excuse petitioner sufficiently explored before or during his trial on charges of attempted murder and murder. Raygoza v. Hulick, ___ F.3d ___, 2007 WL 184635 (7th Cir. 2007). The Court used Mapquest to determine distance and travel time between the crime scene and a party she had attended the petitioner at the time of the crime.
It not the first time that Mapquest was cited as an authority on a subject. A number of state and federal courts have relied on Mapquest to determine the distance or travel time between two points. Mapquest has been quoted in dozens of reported decisions, including decisions concerning:
- Motions to change venue in civil cases, where the convenience of the forum for the parties and potential witnesses has been a problem. Smith v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Dry Co., 169 the application of Maryland. 286, 292, 900 A. 2d 301, 305 (2006), c. A Hoskin. Pacific Railroad Co., 365 Ill. App.3d 1021, 1025, 851 NE2d 646, 650 (2006)
- proposals to transfer a federal criminal case in another district. United States v. Anderson, 2000 WL 34237505, * 7 (WD Wisconsin 2000), United States v. Ferguson, 432 F. Supp .2 d 559, N. 563 5 (ED Va. 2006)
- a motion to dismiss, the Court took judicial notice of the estimated driving distance Mapquest. Untracht v. Fikri, 454 F. Supp .2 d 289, 302 (WD Pa. 2006) (citing Gordon v. Lewistown, 272 F. Supp .2 d 393, 429 n. 34 (MD Pa. 2003))
However, at least one court has held that courts should not take into account the results because the Mapquest is not accurate enough. Commonwealth v. Brown, 839 A. 2d 433, 436-37 (Pa. Super. 2003) ("A website to determine the distances is not the same inherent accuracy as recognized professional dictionaries medical encyclopedias, or other matters of common knowledge within the community. The hold that the trial court abused its discretion in taking judicial notice of a determination not MapQuest. . . . )
Although lawyers trial may not have to produce evidence Mapquest eligible raised a timely objection, the results are unparalleled regularly Mapquest considered by courts in determining the distance or travel time between two points.
Jonathan D. Frieden is a principal of Odin, Feldman & Pittleman, P.C., a law firm in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. His practice includes the litigation of intellectual property matters and other complex commercial disputes and the counseling of e-commerce businesses in a variety of industries. He is admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia and runs the E-Commerce Law blog, a regularly updated discussion of news, trends, and legal issues affecting e-commerce businesses.
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