A landmark ruling has determined that Tesla must pay $234 million to compensate the families of victims in a fatal crash involving its Autopilot system.
According to Electrek, the incident occurred in 2019 when George McGee was driving his Tesla Model S in Key Largo, Florida (USA). McGee had dropped his cellphone on the floor and activated Autopilot mode so he could bend down and retrieve the device.
McGee’s Tesla was traveling at about 100 km/h when it ran a red light and slammed into a parked Chevrolet Tahoe. The crash killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon and seriously injured her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, who was 26 at the time.
In August 2025, a federal jury in Miami found Tesla liable for the crash, assigning 33% of the blame to the automaker. The jury awarded $43 million in compensatory damages and an additional $200 million in punitive damages.
It marked the first major victory for a plaintiff against Tesla in a wrongful death case related to the company’s Autopilot system. Notably, Tesla had rejected a $60 million settlement offer before the trial — a decision that proved costly for the company.
Despite this, Tesla attempted to appeal the ruling. In August 2025, the company’s lawyers filed a 71-page motion asking the court to overturn the verdict or grant a new trial.
The company argued that the verdict “flies in the face of basic Florida tort law, the Due Process Clause, and common sense.” Tesla also claimed that references to statements made by CEO Elon Musk about Autopilot during the trial misled the jury.
However, U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom was not persuaded. Her decision stated that Tesla failed to present new arguments that would justify overturning the jury’s verdict. Even so, Tesla indicated that it plans to appeal the decision to a higher court.
The company also pointed to a pre-trial agreement that it claims would limit punitive damages to three times the compensatory damages, potentially reducing the final payment. Even under that interpretation, however, Tesla would still face a nine-figure payout.
“Tesla’s arguments were simply an attempt to relitigate the court’s pre-trial rulings. We look forward to continuing our work to hold Tesla accountable for its lies and serious misconduct in courts across America,” said Brett Schreiber, attorney for the victims, in a statement to Electrek.
Photo: Unsplash. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
