Overview

• Florida jurors found Tesla 33% liable for the 2019 crash that killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides and awarded $200 million in punitive and $43 million in compensatory damages.
• Tesla’s appeal challenges the multimillion-dollar verdict and maintains that the driver’s admitted cellphone distraction was the sole cause of the accident.
• Plaintiffs accused Tesla of marketing Autopilot as full autonomy despite its SAE level 3 limitations, contributing to driver overreliance.
• Legal experts warn this first civil judgment against Tesla for Autopilot could shape hundreds of pending and future lawsuits over semi-autonomous driving systems.
• Federal regulators have opened probes into at least 17 deaths linked to Autopilot since 2021, intensifying scrutiny of safety protocols and company disclosures.