A rare trial against Elon Musk’s car company began Monday in Miami, where a jury will decide if it is partly to blame for the death of a stargazing university student after a runaway Tesla sent her flying nearly 23 metres through the air and severely injured her boyfriend.
Lawyers for the plaintiff argue that Tesla’s driver-assistance feature called Autopilot should have warned the driver and braked when his Model S sedan blew through flashing red lights, a stop sign and a T-intersection at about 112 km/h in the April 2019 crash. Tesla lays the blame solely on the driver, who was reaching for a dropped cellphone.
“The evidence clearly shows that this crash had nothing to do with Tesla’s Autopilot technology,” Tesla said in a statement. “Instead, like so many unfortunate accidents since cellphones were invented, this was caused by a distracted driver.”
The driver, George McGee, was sued separately by the plaintiffs. That case was settled.
A judgment against Tesla could be especially damaging as the company works to convince the public its self-driving technology is safe during a planned rollout of hundreds of thousands of Tesla robotaxis on U.S. roads by the end of next year.
Case rare for two reasons
A jury trial is rare for the company, which often settles lawsuits, and this one is rarer yet because a judge recently ruled that the family of the stricken Naibel Benavides Leon can argue for punitive damages.
The judge, Beth Bloom of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, issued a partial summary judgment last month, throwing out charges of defective manufacturing and negligent misrepresentation against Tesla. But she also ruled plaintiffs could argue other claims that would make the company liable and ask for punitive damages, which could prove costly.
“A reasonable jury could find that Tesla acted in reckless disregard of human life for the sake of developing their product and maximizing profit,” Bloom said in a filing.
The 2021 lawsuit alleges the driver relied on Autopilot to reduce speed or come to a stop when it detected objects in its way, including a parked Chevrolet Tahoe that Benavides and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, had gotten out of near Key West, Fla., to look up at the sky. The Tesla rammed the Tahoe at highway speeds, causing it to rotate and slam into Benavides, tossing her into a wooded area and killing her.
In legal documents, Tesla denied nearly all of the lawsuit’s allegations and said it expects that consumers will follow warnings in the vehicle and instructions in the owners’ manual, as well as comply with driving laws. Tesla warns owners in manuals that its cars cannot drive themselves and they need to be ready to intervene at all times.
Stellantis is delaying production of the 2026 Dodge Charger Daytona R/T in Windsor as it weighs the impact of U.S. tariffs. The company says jobs aren’t at risk, and other Charger models will continue being built at the plant.
