A Florida jury on Friday found Tesla
liable in the 2019 fatal crash of an Autopilot-equipped
Model S and ordered it to pay $243 million to the victims, in a
verdict that could encourage more legal action against Elon
Musk’s electric vehicle company.
Jurors in Miami federal court awarded the estate of Naibel
Benavides Leon, as well as her former boyfriend Dillon Angulo,
$129 million in compensatory damages plus $200 million
in punitive damages, according to a verdict sheet.
Tesla was held liable for 33% of the compensatory damages,
or $42.6 million. Jurors found the driver liable for 67%, but he
was not a defendant and will not have to pay his share.
“Tesla designed Autopilot only for controlled-access
highways yet deliberately chose not to restrict drivers from
using it elsewhere, alongside Elon Musk telling the world
Autopilot drove better than humans,” Brett Schreiber, a lawyer
for the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
“Today’s verdict represents justice for Naibel’s tragic
death and Dillon’s lifelong injuries,” he added.
The plaintiffs had sought $345 million. Their lawyers said
the trial was the first involving the wrongful death of a third
party resulting from Autopilot.
Tesla said it will appeal.
“Today’s verdict is wrong and only works to set back
automotive safety and jeopardize Tesla’s and the entire
industry’s efforts to develop and implement life-saving
technology,” the company said.
IMPACT ON FUTURE CASES
Tesla has faced many similar lawsuits over its vehicles’
self-driving capabilities, but they have been resolved or
dismissed without getting to trial.
A judge rejected Tesla’s bid to dismiss the Florida case in
June. Experts said Friday’s verdict may spur more lawsuits, and
could make future settlements more costly.
“It’s a big deal,” said Alex Lemann, a law professor at
Marquette University. “This is the first time that Tesla has
been hit with a judgment in one of the many, many fatalities
that have happened as a result of its auto-pilot technology.”
The verdict could also impede efforts by Musk, the world’s
richest person, to convince investors that Tesla can become a
leader in so-called autonomous driving for private vehicles as
well as robotaxis it plans to start producing next year.
Last month, Tesla posted its biggest quarterly sales decline
in more than a decade, and profit fell short of Wall Street
forecasts.
Tesla shares fell 1.8% on Friday, and are down 25% this
year.
DRIVER’S ROLE
The trial concerned an April 25, 2019 incident where George
McGee drove his 2019 Model S at about 62 mph (100 kph) through
an intersection into the victims’ parked Chevrolet Tahoe as they
were standing beside it on a shoulder.
McGee had reached down to pick up a cellphone he dropped on
his car’s floorboard and allegedly received no alerts as he ran
a stop sign and stop light before hitting the victims’ SUV.
Benavides Leon was allegedly thrown 75 feet (23 meters) to
her death, while Angulo suffered serious injuries.
“We have a driver who was acting less than perfectly, and
yet the jury still found Tesla contributed to the crash,” said
Philip Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon University engineering
professor and expert in autonomous technology.
“The only way the jury could have possibly ruled against
Tesla was by finding a defect with the Autopilot software,” he
added. “That’s a big deal.”
Tesla, in its statement, said McGee was entirely at fault.
“To be clear, no car in 2019, and none today, would have
prevented this crash,” the company said. “This was never about
Autopilot; it was a fiction concocted by plaintiffs’ lawyers
blaming the car when the driver – from day one – admitted and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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