Tesla ordered by Florida jury to pay $329 million in Autopilot crash

By Reuters

(CNN) — A Florida jury on Friday found Tesla liable in the 2019 fatal crash of an Autopilot-equipped Model S, and ordered Elon Musk’s automaker to pay $329 million to the family of a deceased woman and an injured survivor.

Jurors in Miami federal court ordered Tesla to pay $129 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages to the estate of Naibel Benavides Leon and to her former boyfriend Dillon Angulo.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs said the trial was the first involving the wrongful death of a third party resulting from Autopilot. The plaintiffs had sought $345 million.

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 efforts to dismiss the case earlier in the summer, and experts said this may encourage other litigants against the EV maker.

“I think it’s a big deal,” said Alex Lemann, a professor at Marquette University Law School, who said this may make future settlements more expensive for Tesla. “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.”

Friday’s verdict could 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. Shares fell 1.8% on Friday.

Tesla plans to appeal, according to published reports. The Austin, Texas-based company and its lawyers did not immediately respond to several requests for comment.

The trial concerned an April 25, 2019, incident where George McGee drove his 2019 Model S at about 62 mph 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.

“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. That’s a big deal.”

Benavides Leon was allegedly thrown 75 feet to her death, while Angulo suffered serious injuries.

“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.

Last month, Tesla posted its biggest quarterly sales decline in more than a decade, and profit fell short of Wall Street forecasts.

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