Latest news with #Angulo
New Straits Times
02-08-2025
- Automotive
- New Straits Times
Tesla ordered to pay US$242mil over fatal Autopilot crash
NEW YORK: A Florida jury on Friday ordered Tesla to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to plaintiffs who blamed a deadly 2019 crash on the company's "Autopilot" driver assistance technology. The jury found Tesla's system partly responsible for a crash in Key Largo that killed Naibel Benavides Leon and injured her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, according to attorney Darren Jeffrey Rousso, a partner at the law firm that represented Angulo and Leon's family. The plaintiffs had alleged that Autopilot was to blame when driver George McGee's Tesla careened into a Chevrolet sport utility vehicle, killing Leon and injuring Angulo. The jury awarded US$200 million in punitive damages, plus US$59 million in compensatory damages to Leon's family and US$70 million in damages to Angulo, according to court records. Since the jury assigned one-third of the blame to Tesla, the compensatory damages will be reduced, Rousso said, with the total impact of the jury award totalling US$242 million after these reductions. "Justice was done," Rousso said. "The jury heard all the evidence and came up with a fair and just verdict on behalf of our clients." Tesla will appeal the decision, according to its defence attorneys. "Today's verdict is wrong and only works to set back automotive safety and jeapordise Tesla's and the entire industry's efforts to develop and implement life-saving technology," Tesla said through its legal team. "The evidence has always shown that this driver was solely at fault because he was speeding, with his foot on the accelerator – which overrode Autopilot – as he rummaged for his dropped phone without his eyes on the road," Tesla said. "To be clear, no car in 2019, and none today, would have prevented this crash. This was never about Autopilot."--AFP
NDTV
01-08-2025
- Automotive
- NDTV
Tesla Ordered To Pay $242 Million In 2019 Fatal Autopilot Crash
United States: A Florida jury on Friday ordered Tesla to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to plaintiffs who blamed a deadly 2019 crash on the company's "Autopilot" driver assistance technology. The jury found Tesla's system partly responsible for a crash in Key Largo that killed Naibel Benavides Leon and injured her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, according to attorney Darren Jeffrey Rousso, a partner at the law firm that represented Angulo and Leon's family. The plaintiffs had alleged that Autopilot was to blame when driver George McGee's Tesla careened into a Chevrolet sport utility vehicle, killing Leon and injuring Angulo. The jury awarded $200 million in punitive damages, plus $59 million in compensatory damages to Leon's family and $70 million in damages to Angulo, according to court records. Since the jury assigned one-third of the blame to Tesla, the compensatory damages will be reduced, Rousso said, with the total impact of the jury award totalling $242 million after these reductions. "Justice was done," Rousso said. "The jury heard all the evidence and came up with a fair and just verdict on behalf of our clients." Tesla will appeal the decision, according to its defense attorneys. "Today's verdict is wrong and only works to set back automotive safety and jeapordize Tesla's and the entire industry's efforts to develop and implement life-saving technology," Tesla said through its legal team. "The evidence has always shown that this driver was solely at fault because he was speeding, with his foot on the accelerator -– which overrode Autopilot –- as he rummaged for his dropped phone without his eyes on the road," Tesla said. "To be clear, no car in 2019, and none today, would have prevented this crash. This was never about Autopilot."
Miami Herald
01-08-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Jurors blame Tesla for fatal Florida Keys crash, award victims $242 million
A Miami jury on Friday found fault with the Autopilot system of one of the world's most influential electric vehicle makers and awarded the survivors of a horrendous crash in the Florida Keys that left a woman dead and her boyfriend criticially injured, $242.6 million. The jury needed just seven hours to determine that industry leader Tesla was to pay $200 million in punitive damages and another $42.6 million in damages to the surviving family members of Naibel Benavides Leon, who was killed when she was 22, and her boyfriend Dillon Angulo, 33, who survived but suffered massive internal and external injuries from the accident. The verdict in Miami federal civil court marked the first time in three attempts over the past three years that jurors found culpability with Tesla's Autopilot system at trial - a historic marker, said attorney Brett Schreiber. As the verdict was read, tears streamed down the faces of family members and plaintiff attorneys who spent three weeks painstakingly making their case about the 2019 accident. 'It's rare when regular people have the opportunity to change the world and this is what this verdict did,' Schreiber said standing next to Angulo and Benavides Leon's family outside the Wilkie D. Ferguson federal courthouse in downtown Miami. 'What Musk has been saying about this technology was as wrong 10 years ago as it is today.' Other attorneys who tried the case alongside Schrieber and before Miami U.S. District Judge Beth Blooom were Miami's Todd Poses, Adam Boumel and Doug Eaton. Under a blistering sun outside the courthouse with the heat index over 105 degrees, Angulo - whose entire body was practically shattered during the crash - thanked God, family, doctors and first responders. 'To stand up like this, especially against the richest guy in the world, we did this for Naidel,' he said. READ MORE: Family of woman slain in 2019 Florida Keys crash blames Tesla autopilot for her death The decision came at the end of a three-week trial that delved into statements made by Tesla founder Elon Musk over the years concerning the Tesla S's ability to stop itself or veer away from something in its path with little or no driver assistance. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that Tesla falsely claimed its Autopilot system has the ability to stop without the help of drivers. Tesla's attorneys laid the blame squarely on George McGee, 48, who ran a stop sign at the end of Card Sound Road at 62 miles per hour, well above the 45-mph speed limit, while pressing the pedal and reaching down to the car's floor in search of his dropped cellphone. McGee agreed earlier at a separate trial to pay the families an undisclosed amount in a settlement. Tesla called Friday's verdict 'wrong' and said it only sets back automotive safety and jeopardizes the industry's ability to develop life-saving technology. They blamed McGee - who jurors found to be two-thirds at fault, but who wasn't involved in the case because of his earlier agreement. And Tesla said it intends to appeal the verdict. McGee also pleaded no contest to a careless driving charge in Monroe County. 'This was never about Autopilot, it was a fiction concocted by plantiffs' lawyers blaming the car when the driver - from day one - admitted and accepted responsibility,' the company said. The horrendous crash happened just after 9 p.m on April 25, 2019, at the end of Card Sound Road at the north end of Key Largo where the road meets County Road 905. The young couple's Chevy Tahoe was parked on a dirt road on the east side of County Road 905, which leads north to the Ocean Reef Club, where McGee was headed, and south to the Florida Keys. As McGee approached the three-way stop at the end of Card Sound Road, he dropped his cellphone, looked down and blew through the stop sign and onto the dirt road beyond, hitting the Tahoe so hard it launched Benavides Leon 80 feet into the woods. Video footage shows McGee getting out of his car and tending to Ungulo whose pelvis and jaw bone separated. They only found Benavides after finding flipflops beneath the truck and about a 10-minute search. At trial it came out that McGee was on the phone preparing for a flight so he and his wife could attend a funeral. During closing arguments earlier this week, Schreiber told jurors how Musk and other Tesla executives had repeatedly relayed to the public how the Tesla S was a 'self-driving' car and said it was their fault that it became an expectation. Friday, he said outside the courtroom the company pushed a campaign that Tesla was top-of-the-heap technology, but inside the courtroom 'they make it out like it's a jalopy.' 'The Tesla car is a good car,' Schreiber said. 'It's the Autopilot that will kill you.' Tesla attorneys led by Joel Smith chose not to make any public statements after the verdict other than referring to the company's statement. During closing arguments Thursday, Smith told jurors that if a driver hits the accelerator and the car races above the speed limit, it overrides the Autopilot function. He said records show McGee was on the phone for 13 minutes, varied speeds in the minutes leading to the crash and harped on how the car's manual says drivers should always maintain control of the steering wheel. The attorney cited 2019 federal transportation records that showed 36,500 people died in car accidents in the U.S. 'McGee said under testimony he knew he couldn't be hands-free on Autopilot,' Smith told jurors. 'He's an aggressive driver who dropped his cellphone, and like all the other people, killed someone.'
Business Insider
01-08-2025
- Automotive
- Business Insider
Tesla must pay over $242M in damages after being found partly at fault for deadly Autopilot crash
In a major blow to Tesla, a Florida federal jury on Friday found Elon Musk's electric car company partly to blame for a 2019 crash that left a 22-year-old woman dead and her boyfriend seriously injured. The jury sided with the plaintiffs, awarding the family of Naibel Benavides Leon and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, a combined $329 million in total damages — $129 million in compensatory damages and $200 million punitive damages. Jurors awarded $59 million in compensatory damages to Benavides Leon's family and $70 million to Angulo, who suffered a traumatic brain injury and broken bones among other injuries. The verdict marks a substantial setback for Tesla and its Autopilot driver-assistance feature that the attorneys for the plaintiffs said was engaged at the time of the deadly collision and had design flaws. Tesla, in a statement, called the verdict "wrong" and said it plans to appeal "given the substantial errors of law and irregularities at trial." "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," said Tesla. The company added, "This was never about Autopilot; it was a fiction concocted by plaintiffs' lawyers blaming the car when the driver — from day one — admitted and accepted responsibility." Please help BI improve our Business, Tech, and Innovation coverage by sharing a bit about your role — it will help us tailor content that matters most to people like you. Continue By providing this information, you agree that Business Insider may use this data to improve your site experience and for targeted advertising. By continuing you agree that you accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . The plaintiff's attorney, Brett Schreiber, said the verdict "represents justice for Naibel's tragic death and Dillon's lifelong injuries, holding Tesla and Musk accountable for propping up the company's trillion-dollar valuation with self-driving hype at the expense of human lives." The verdict follows a three-week civil trial that included testimony from Angulo, Benavides Leon's family members, and the driver of the Tesla that plowed into a parked SUV and struck the couple as they were stargazing outside the vehicle alongside a Key Largo road. The jury found Tesla 33% responsible for the crash, with the driver responsible for the rest. Tesla will have to pay the full punitive damages amount, and a third of the compensatory damages, which equals $42.5 million. The case stems from a wrongful-death lawsuit that the plaintiffs brought against Tesla. The lawsuit argued that the carmaker's vehicles were "defective and unsafe for their intended use." Tesla, the lawsuit said, programmed Autopilot"to allow it to be used on roadways that Tesla knew were not suitable for its use and knew this would result in collisions causing injuries and deaths of innocent people who did not choose to be a part of Tesla's experiments, such as Plaintiffs." "Despite knowing of Autopilot's deficiencies, Tesla advertised Autopilot in a way that greatly exaggerated its capabilities and hid its deficiencies," said the lawsuit, which pointed to multiple comments from Musk touting the safety and reliability of the software. Tesla driver George McGee had Autopilot on when his 2019 Model S blew past a stop sign and a flashing red light at a three-way intersection and plowed into Angulo's mother's Chevrolet Tahoe at more than 60-miles-per-hour, the lawsuit said. McGee — who previously settled a separate lawsuit with the plaintiffs for an undisclosed amount — said he had dropped his cellphone during a call and bent down to pick it up moments before his Tesla, without warning, T-boned the Tahoe. He testified during the trial that he thought of Autopilot, which allows the vehicle to steer itself, switch lanes, brake, and accelerate on its own, as a "copilot." "My concept was it would assist me should I have a failure" or "should I make a mistake," McGee said in testimony, adding, "I do feel like it failed me." "I believe it didn't warn me of the car and the individuals and nor did it apply brakes," McGee testified. Attorneys for Tesla have argued that McGee was solely responsible for the April 25, 2019, crash. In the trial's opening statements, Tesla attorney Joel Smith said the case was about a driver, not a "defective vehicle," and had "nothing to do with Autopilot." "It's about an aggressive driver, not a complacent driver, a distracted driver who was fumbling around for his cellphone," Smith said. "It's about a driver pressing an accelerator pedal and driving straight through an intersection." Tesla's attorneys said that just before the crash, McGee hit the accelerator, overriding the vehicle's set cruising speed of 45 miles per hour and its ability to brake on its own. Autopilot mode, Tesla says on its website, is "intended for use with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment."
Business Insider
01-08-2025
- Automotive
- Business Insider
Tesla found partly to blame in trial over deadly Autopilot crash
In a major blow to Tesla, a Florida federal jury on Friday found Elon Musk's electric car company partly to blame for a 2019 crash that left a 22-year-old woman dead and her boyfriend seriously injured. The jury sided with the plaintiffs, awarding the family of Naibel Benavides Leon and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, a combined $329 million in total damages. The verdict marks a substantial setback for Tesla and its Autopilot driver-assistance feature that the attorneys for the plaintiffs said was engaged at the time of the deadly collision and had design flaws. It follows a three-week civil trial that included testimony from Angulo, Benavides Leon's family members, and the driver of the Tesla that plowed into a parked SUV and struck the couple as they were stargazing outside the vehicle alongside a Key Largo road. The case stems from a wrongful death lawsuit that the plaintiffs brought against Tesla. The lawsuit argued that the car maker's vehicles were "defective and unsafe for their intended use." Tesla, the lawsuit said, programmed Autopilot "to allow it to be used on roadways that Tesla knew were not suitable for its use and knew this would result in collisions causing injuries and deaths of innocent people who did not choose to be a part of Tesla's experiments, such as Plaintiffs." "Despite knowing of Autopilot's deficiencies, Tesla advertised Autopilot in a way that greatly exaggerated its capabilities and hid its deficiencies," said the lawsuit, which pointed to multiple comments from Musk touting the safety and reliability of the software. Tesla driver George McGee had Autopilot on when his 2019 Model S blew past a stop sign and a flashing red light at a three-way intersection and plowed into Angulo's mother's Chevrolet Tahoe at more than 60-miles-per-hour, the lawsuit said. McGee — who previously settled a separate lawsuit with the plaintiffs for an undisclosed amount — said he had dropped his cellphone during a call and bent down to pick it up moments before his Tesla, without warning, T-boned the Tahoe. He testified during the trial that he thought of Autopilot, which allows the vehicle to steer itself, switch lanes, brake, and accelerate on its own, a "copilot." "My concept was it would assist me should I have a failure" or "should I make a mistake," McGee said in testimony, adding, "I do feel like it failed me." "I believe it didn't warn me of the car and the individuals and nor did it apply brakes," McGee testified. Attorneys for Tesla have argued that McGee was solely responsible for the April 25, 2019, crash. In the trial's opening statements, Tesla attorney Joel Smith said the case was about a driver, not a "defective vehicle," and had "nothing to do with Autopilot." "It's about an aggressive driver, not a complacent driver, a distracted driver who was fumbling around for his cellphone," Smith said. "It's about a driver pressing an accelerator pedal and driving straight through an intersection." Tesla's attorneys said that just before the crash, McGee hit the accelerator, overriding the vehicle's set cruising speed of 45 miles per hour and its ability to brake on its own. Autopilot mode, Tesla says on its website, is "intended for use with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment."
