Tesla Found Partly Liable in 2019 Autopilot Death
A Miami jury found Tesla partially liable Friday in a 2019 crash that killed one person and injured another—all while the driver of the Model S used the automaker’s Autopilot driver assistance feature.
The jury found Tesla liable for $200 million in punitive damages, plus an additional $43 million in compensatory damages. (Because of state laws, the company will likely end up paying less.) A jury found the automaker one-third responsible for the crash; it found the driver of the Tesla, who settled with the plaintiffs and testified during the trial, responsible for the other two-thirds.
In a written statement, Tesla spokesperson Jeff McAndrews, said that the “verdict is wrong.” Citing “substantial errors of law and irregularities at trial,” he said Tesla would appeal.
The lawsuit stemmed from a 2019 crash in the Florida Keys in which the driver of a Tesla Model S in Autopilot mode allegedly came to a T-intersection and, failing to see that the roadway was ending, kept his foot on the accelerator; the car slammed into a parked vehicle and two people standing nearby. One of the pedestrians, 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon, was killed; her boyfriend, 26-year-old Dillon Angulo, was seriously injured.
