MIAMI (BN24) — A federal jury in Florida has ordered Tesla to pay $200 million in punitive damages, along with $43 million in compensatory damages, after finding the electric vehicle maker partially liable in a wrongful death lawsuit involving its Autopilot system.
The case stemmed from the 2019 death of 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon, who was struck and killed by a Tesla Model S operating on Autopilot at a T-shaped intersection. Her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, was also hit in the crash and sustained life-altering injuries. The driver, George McGee, admitted to momentarily losing sight of the road after dropping his phone, but the jury found that Tesla shared significant responsibility for the crash due to defects in its semi-autonomous technology.
The plaintiffs argued that Tesla’s Autopilot system failed to react appropriately, even though the car’s internal sensors detected the impending collision. A key piece of evidence—a recovered augmented video that included data from the vehicle’s Autopilot computer—showed the car recognized the danger but did not intervene until the crash was unavoidable.
“What we ultimately learned from that video is that the vehicle 100% knew it was about to run off the roadway, through a stop sign, through a blinking red light, through a parked car, and into a pedestrian—yet it did nothing,” said attorney Adam Boumel, who represented the victims.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys sought $345 million in total damages during closing arguments, citing what they described as Tesla’s “reckless promotion” of its self-driving technology. “This verdict represents justice for Naibel’s tragic death and Dillon’s lifelong injuries,” said co-counsel Brett Schreiber. “It holds Tesla and Elon Musk accountable for inflating the company’s valuation with unfulfilled promises of autonomous driving.”
Tesla strongly disagreed with the outcome and vowed to appeal. “Today’s verdict is wrong and only serves to undermine efforts to advance life-saving technologies,” the company said in a statement. “This was never about Autopilot. The driver admitted responsibility from the start.”
Tesla contended the Autopilot system was not engaged in a way that absolved human oversight, but the jury concluded that the vehicle’s software bore partial fault for the failure to prevent the crash.
Legal analysts say the verdict could have far-reaching implications for Tesla and the autonomous driving industry at large. “This opens the floodgates,” said Miguel Custodio, a personal injury lawyer unaffiliated with the case. “It will embolden more plaintiffs to challenge Tesla’s safety claims.”
Plaintiffs’ attorney Todd Poses emphasized that the goal of the case was not only accountability but also public safety. “Tesla needs to go back to the drawing board,” he said. “Whether or not this sets a precedent for the company, we hope it leads to safer roads for everyone.”
The case marks one of the most significant legal challenges Tesla has faced over its Autopilot feature, amid ongoing scrutiny over multiple crashes linked to the system. While similar lawsuits have been dismissed in the past, Friday’s decision may change the legal landscape for the EV giant moving forward.
CBS/AP
