A Florida jury ordered Tesla to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation in the case of a fatal accident that occurred in 2019, and prosecutors held it partly responsible for the company’s “self-driving” technology.
The jury concluded that the Tesla system was partly responsible for an accident in Key Largo that killed Naybel Benavides Leon and injured her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, according to attorney Darren Jeffrey Russo, a partner at the law firm representing the Angulo and Leon families.
Prosecutors said the “self-driving” feature (Autopilot) was responsible for the Tesla car driven by George McGee swerving toward a Chevrolet, killing Leon and injuring Angulo.
The jury awarded $200 million in punitive damages, $59 million in financial compensation to Leon’s family and $70 million to Angulo’s family, according to court documents.
Since the jury held Tesla a third of the responsibility, it reduced the financial compensation, according to Russo, bringing the total compensation owed by Tesla to $242 million.
“Justice was served,” Russo said. “The jury heard all the evidence and came out with a fair and just verdict for our clients.”
Tesla will appeal the decision, according to its legal agent.
A statement by Tesla’s legal team said, “The ruling issued is wrong and only undermines the safety of the automotive sector, and jeopardizes the development and application efforts of life-saving technology made by Tesla and the entire automotive industry”.
Tesla’s statement continued, “Evidence has always shown that this driver was solely responsible because he was speeding, and his foot was on the accelerator pedal, which stopped the self-driving feature, while he was searching for his phone, from which he fell and was not looking at the road”.
The statement added, “To clarify, no car was able to avoid this collision in 2019, and no car is able to do so today.” It has nothing to do with self-driving at all.
