On the Dash:
- Tesla is appealing a $242.5 million verdict in a wrongful death lawsuit, arguing damages should be reduced or overturned.
- The case stems from a 2019 crash in Key Largo, Florida, involving Tesla’s Autopilot system, which killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides and injured her boyfriend.
- Tesla’s defense argues driver negligence caused the crash, while plaintiffs say Tesla misrepresented Autopilot’s capabilities.
Tesla has filed a motion to appeal a $242.5 million verdict in a wrongful death and product liability lawsuit, arguing the damages should be reduced or overturned. The case centers on a 2019 crash in Key Largo, Florida, in which a Tesla Model S operating on Enhanced Autopilot killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides and injured her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo.
The Miami federal jury had awarded a total of $329 million in damages, holding Tesla liable for $242.5 million. Tesla’s legal team, led by Gibson Dunn, contends that compensatory damages should be capped at $69 million and that punitive damages should be either eliminated or reduced to align with Florida law.
Tesla argues the crash was caused entirely by driver George McGee, who admitted he dropped his phone while driving and expected the vehicle’s Autopilot system to brake automatically. The automaker maintains that the Model S had no design defects and that holding Tesla liable for driver error is inconsistent with state law.
Plaintiffs’ lead attorney Brett Schreiber says the verdict reflects shared responsibility but emphasizes Tesla’s misrepresentation of Autopilot’s capabilities. He contends the crash was “not an indictment of autonomous vehicles as a whole, but of Tesla’s reckless and unsafe deployment of its system.”
The appeal marks the next stage in a high-profile case scrutinizing Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving technology and its role in serious accidents.
