A rare trial against Elon Musk’s auto company began in Miami on Monday, and a jury will decide whether to blame the death of a Stargazing University student for an out-of-control Tesla traveled her flight nearly 23 meters through the air and seriously injured her boyfriend.
The plaintiff’s lawyers believe that when Tesla’s driver booster feature called Autopilot should warn the driver and his model S sedan exploded at 112 km/h when the flash that crashed in April 2019 flashed, stop signs and T-mode communication. Tesla blames the driver only, who is getting the dropped phone.
“The evidence clearly shows that the collapse has nothing to do with Tesla’s autonomous driving technology,” Tesla said in a statement. “Instead, like many unfortunate accidents since the invention of the phone, it was caused by distracted drivers.”
The driver George McGee was sued separately by the plaintiff. The case was resolved.
The verdict on Tesla could be particularly harmful as companies work to convince the public that autonomous driving technology is planned to launch hundreds of thousands of Tesla robots on U.S. roads.
There are two reasons why cases are rare
Jury trials are rare for the company to settle lawsuits frequently, and are rare, as the judge recently ruled that the Naibel Benavides Leon family could claim punitive damages.
The judge, Beth Bloom of the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida, made partial summary judgment last month, filing allegations of defective manufacturing and negligence statements against Tesla. But she also ruled that the plaintiff might argue other claims that could put the company in liability and demand punitive damages, which could prove expensive.
“A reasonable jury can find that Tesla is ignoring human life’s behavior in order to develop products and maximize profits,” Bloom said in the filing.
The 2021 lawsuit alleges that drivers rely on autopilot to slow down speeds or when it detects objects in its way, including Benavides and her boyfriend Dillon Angulo’s Chevrolet Tahoe, who have looked up at the sky from near Key West, Florida. Tesla hit Tahoe at highway speed, spinning and slamming into Benavides, throwing her into a wooded area and killing her.
In legal documents, Tesla denied nearly all allegations in the lawsuit and said it expected consumers to follow the vehicle’s warnings and instructions in the owner’s manual and comply with driving laws. Tesla warned owners in the manual that their cars cannot drive and that they need to be ready to intervene at any time.
Stellantis delayed production of Windsor’s 2026 Dodge Charger R/T because it weighs the impact of U.S. tariffs. The company said the work is not dangerous and other charger models will continue to be built in the factory.
