Overview

• New court filings reveal the May 30 settlement demand preceded a Miami federal jury’s roughly $243 million award over a 2019 Autopilot-related crash.
• Jurors granted $129 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages, assigning 33% of compensatory fault to Tesla and 67% to the driver, who was not a defendant.
• The case stems from an April 2019 Key Largo collision in which a Model S using Autopilot struck a parked Chevrolet Tahoe, killing Naibel Benavides Leon and severely injuring Dillon Angulo.
• Plaintiffs say Tesla countered with a much smaller, confidential offer that was rejected, and they now request legal fees accrued since the settlement date.
• Tesla denies wrongdoing, plans to appeal, and faces wider scrutiny of its driver-assistance marketing as lawyers note this was the first federal verdict tied to a third-party Autopilot wrongful death.