A federal judge in Miami has rejected an attempt by Elon Musk’s Tesla to overturn a $243 million jury verdict stemming from a 2019 fatal crash involving the company’s Autopilot system.
CNBC reports that U.S. District Court Judge Beth Bloom denied Tesla’s motion to dismiss or reduce the substantial damages award related to a crash in Key Largo, Florida, that resulted in the death of a young woman and severe injuries to her boyfriend. The decision represents a significant legal setback for the EV giant as it faces ongoing scrutiny over its advanced driver assistance technologies.
The tragic incident occurred in 2019 when Tesla owner George McGee was operating his Model S sedan with the company’s Enhanced Autopilot feature engaged. The Enhanced Autopilot system is a partially automated driving technology that assists with certain driving functions but requires active driver supervision. During the journey, McGee dropped his phone while driving and reached down to retrieve it. According to testimony provided during the trial, McGee believed the Autopilot system would automatically brake if it detected an obstacle in the vehicle’s path.
Contrary to his expectations, the Tesla vehicle accelerated through an intersection at a speed exceeding 60 miles per hour. The car struck an unoccupied parked vehicle and then collided with 22-year-old Naibel Benavides and her boyfriend Dillon Angulo, who were standing on the opposite side of their vehicle at the time. Benavides died as a result of the collision, while Angulo sustained severe injuries that have caused permanent damage.
A jury deliberated on the case last year and determined that Tesla bore partial responsibility for the fatal crash. The jury awarded $243 million in damages to the victims and their families. Following the verdict, Tesla filed an appeal seeking to have the decision overturned entirely or to secure a new trial with a different jury.
In her written order published on Friday, Judge Bloom provided a clear explanation for denying Tesla’s motion. She stated that evidence admitted at trial more than supports the jury verdict and found no errors in the previous proceedings. The judge also concluded that no additional arguments presented by Tesla’s legal team justified either a new trial or any modification to the earlier verdict.
Brett Schreiber, who served as lead trial counsel for the plaintiffs in the case, issued a statement expressing satisfaction with the ruling. “We are of course pleased, but also completely unsurprised that the honorable Judge Bloom upheld the jury’s verdict finding Tesla liable for the integral role Autopilot and the company’s misrepresentations of its capabilities played in the crash that killed Naibel and permanently injured Dillon,” Schreiber said. Tesla’s attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the judge’s decision.
The legal defeat comes at a challenging time for Tesla and CEO Elon Musk, as the company attempts to accelerate its efforts in the emerging robotaxi market. Tesla currently lags significantly behind competitors in the autonomous vehicle space. Alphabet’s Waymo has established a substantial presence in the United States, while Baidu’s Apollo Go operates commercially in China. Both companies currently offer commercial ride-hailing services using autonomous vehicles to paying customers.
Tesla’s position in this market remains limited. The company operates only a small number of robotaxis in Austin, Texas, and does not yet provide driverless ride-hailing services on a widespread basis. Despite these limitations, Musk made ambitious projections last month, claiming that Tesla will have a widespread network of driverless robotaxis operating throughout the United States by the end of 2026.
Musk talks up his robotaxis, but Breitbart News recently reported that they suffer accidents at an astonishing four times the rate of human drivers:
Tesla’s robotaxi program in Austin, Texas is experiencing collision rates that are four times higher than those of human drivers, based on the company’s own reporting to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The autonomous vehicle fleet, which consists of 43 vehicles, has accumulated approximately 800,000 miles over an eight-month operational period and has reported fourteen separate crash incidents during that time.
This data translates to one collision occurring every 57,000 miles for the Tesla robotaxi fleet. In comparison, Tesla’s own research indicates that the average human driver experiences a minor incident once every 229,000 miles and a major collision every 699,000 miles. NHTSA data shows that the average driver has an on-the-road incident requiring police involvement approximately once every 500,000 miles.
During the legal proceedings, Gibson Dunn, the law firm representing Tesla, argued that the compensatory damages should be drastically reduced from the jury’s award of $129 million to no more than $69 million. Such a reduction would have resulted in Tesla paying only $23 million in total. The firm also contended that punitive damages should be eliminated entirely or reduced to no more than three times the compensatory damages, citing a statutory cap that exists under Florida state law.
Judge Bloom’s rejection of these arguments means that the full $243 million verdict remains intact, and Tesla will be required to pay the complete amount awarded by the jury. The case highlights ongoing concerns about the safety and marketing of advanced driver assistance systems, particularly regarding how these technologies are described to consumers and the level of attention drivers maintain when using such features.
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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