Tesla has agreed to settle a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a fatal crash in 2019. It’s the latest case to involve Autopilot, Tesla’s advanced driver assist system that the company claims will serve as the foundation for its future in self-driving cars and robotics.
The case centers around the death of 15-year-old Jovani Maldonado, who was riding in a truck with his father in California when they were struck by the driver of a Tesla Model 3 traveling at over 60 mph. The driver was using Autopilot, Tesla’s driver assist system that purports to control braking and steering on highways. According to a recording of the crash reviewed by The New York Times, the driver did not slow down until a fraction of a second before impact.
In their lawsuit, the Maldonado family asserted that Autopilot is defective and helped contribute to the crash. Their complaint names both Tesla and the driver of the Model 3, Romeo Yalung, as defendants. Tesla has long argued that sole responsibility lies with the driver, not Autopilot, to slow a vehicle down.
But a verdict in Florida last month may have pushed Tesla to settle this lawsuit quicker than usual. In that trial, a jury found the company partly responsible for a crash that killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides in Florida in 2019. She was also struck by a Tesla driver who was using Autopilot. Tesla was ordered to pay $243 million in punitive and compensatory damages to the Benavides family, a decision that the company has since appealed.
Brett Schreiber, the lawyer who handled the Benavides trial, is also representing the Maldonado family. In an interview with The Verge last month, he called the Maldonado case “round two,” vowing to use the same argument about Tesla’s defective driver assist system that he used to win the Benavides trial.
That case is now likely to be settled for an undisclosed sum. Through a spokesperson, Schreiber declined to comment on the settlement. The case was set to go to trial in the Alameda State Superior Court by the end of the year. In a new filing, Tesla and the plaintiffs have requested that the court approve a mutually agreed upon settlement.
Since most wrongful death lawsuits reach a settlement or are dismissed, the Benavides lawsuit was seen as a major public test of Tesla’s safety record. The verdict could open the floodgates to others who have been injured or killed in crashes involving Tesla’s driver assist products. There are several more lawsuits against Tesla still pending. Darel Kyle, 55, who suffered serious spinal injuries when a Tesla driver using Autopilot rear-ended the van he was driving, filed a lawsuit in California in 2021.
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