Latest news with #punitive damages
Yahoo
04-08-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Tesla to pay $243m in Autopilot lawsuit verdict
Tesla has been ordered to pay $243m in a landmark lawsuit concerning a fatal crash involving its Autopilot system in Florida, US, in 2019. A federal jury in Miami attributed 33% of the responsibility for the collision to Tesla after a Model S failed to stop at a sign and collided with a Chevrolet Tahoe. The jury deliberated for less than a day after a three-week trial before reaching its verdict. They assigned the majority of the blame to the Tesla Model S driver but also ruled that Tesla should compensate the victims with $42.5m for their losses and pay an additional $200m in punitive damages. Tesla anticipates that the punitive damages awarded will be minimised by the court. Tesla argued: 'the driver, George McGee, was entirely at fault because he was distracted when he dropped his mobile phone on the floorboard." The company's statement was quoted by Bloomberg as saying: 'Today's verdict is wrong and only works to set back automotive safety and jeopardise Tesla's and the entire industry's efforts to develop and implement life-saving technology. 'We plan to appeal given the substantial errors of law and irregularities at trial.' The outcome of the Miami lawsuit is said to tarnish the company's near-immaculate court record. The company had won two Autopilot-related crash trials in California, US, and settled several other cases confidentially. The verdict arrives amid heightened investor scrutiny of the EV maker's CEO, Elon Musk, following a tumultuous period for the company's stock. During the trial, jurors heard from the Model S driver, relatives of the deceased, Tesla engineers, and external experts about the role of Autopilot in the crash. The driver had activated the driver-assistance system while driving home and had overridden the vehicle's adaptive cruise control by accelerating beyond the speed limit moments before the crash. McGee testified about being distracted by his phone and expecting Autopilot to assist him. The family of the deceased, Naibel Benavides Leon, had previously reached a confidential settlement with McGee in 2021. The plaintiffs' lawyers argued that Tesla's Autopilot promotes a false sense of security and that the company, along with Musk, has exaggerated the system's capabilities. They also claimed that Tesla neglected to implement safeguards to restrict the software's use to appropriate roadways and to monitor driver attentiveness. Tesla's defence emphasised driver error as the cause of the collision, pointing to McGee's history of aggressive driving and his failure to remain attentive despite warnings in the owner's manual. The company insisted that there were no defects in the software and that Autopilot functioned as intended. The company's defence attorney, Joel Smith, argued that no driver-assistance technology available in 2019 could have prevented the crash. The automotive industry classifies vehicle automation systems from Level 0 to 5, with Tesla's Autopilot rated at Level 2, indicating that it needs constant driver input and supervision. Tesla recently reported a 12% year-on-year decrease in total revenue for the second quarter (Q2) of 2025, with figures falling to $22.49bn from $25.5bn in the same period last year. "Tesla to pay $243m in Autopilot lawsuit verdict" was originally created and published by Just Auto, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Yahoo
01-08-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Tesla ordered to pay $200 million in punitive damages over fatal crash
Tesla was found partly liable in a wrongful death case involving the electric vehicle company's Autopilot system, with a jury awarding the plaintiffs $200 million in punitive damages plus additional money in compensatory damages. The case, which took place in a Miami courtroom over the last couple of weeks, centered on whether defects in Tesla's self-driving technology ultimately contributed to the death of 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon in 2019. Along with the $200 million in punitive damages, Tesla was also ordered to pay around $43 million in compensatory damages directly to the plaintiffs. Leon was killed when a man driving a Model S Tesla equipped with Tesla's Autopilot technology plowed through a T-shaped intersection and struck her and her boyfriend Dillon Angulo. Angulo survived but was gravely injured. The federal jury held that Tesla bore significant responsibility in the incident and that George McGee, the Florida driver who lost sight of the road when he dropped his phone, was not entirely to blame. "Today's 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," said the plaintiffs' attorney Brett Schreiber in a statement shared with CBS News. The plaintiffs in the case originally asked for $345 million in damages during closing arguments on Thursday. During the trial, lawyers for the plaintiffs alleged that Tesla either hid or lost key evidence after a forensic data expert was able to recover data from the accident that Tesla said had been deleted. Tesla disputes ruling and will appeal "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," Tesla said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch. "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." Tesla also said it plans to appeal the decision. The case was a big test for the electric vehicle maker, which has been under scrutiny over the safety of its cars. Similar cases have been brought against Tesla, although many have been dismissed. "This will open the floodgates," said Miguel Custodio, a car crash lawyer not involved in the Tesla case. "It will embolden a lot of people to come to court." Arkansas officials reveal new details about Devil's Den murders of husband and wife Trump says nuclear subs to be positioned after former Russian president's remark Trump says he's ordered the firing of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner
