A federal judge in Miami has denied Tesla's request to overturn a $243 million jury verdict related to a fatal 2019 Autopilot crash in Florida. The ruling means Tesla must now face the judgment at the trial court level, though the company plans to appeal. The case involves a collision that killed one person and injured another.
On February 20, 2026, U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom rejected Tesla's motion to set aside a $243 million jury verdict from August 2025. The verdict stemmed from a 2019 crash in Key Largo, Florida, where driver George McGee was operating a Tesla Model S with Autopilot engaged. McGee dropped his phone and bent down to retrieve it, causing the vehicle to travel at approximately 62 mph through a stop sign and a flashing red light before colliding with a parked Chevrolet Tahoe.
The impact killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon and severely injured her 26-year-old boyfriend, Dillon Angulo. The Miami federal jury assigned 33% of the blame to Tesla, awarding $43 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages—the first major plaintiff win in an Autopilot wrongful death case. Tesla had rejected a $60 million settlement offer prior to the trial.
Tesla's August 2025 post-trial motion, spanning 71 pages, argued that the verdict violated Florida tort law, the Due Process Clause, and common sense. The company also claimed that references to CEO Elon Musk's statements about Autopilot during the trial misled the jury. Judge Bloom ruled that the evidence supported the verdict and that Tesla presented no new arguments to justify overturning it. In her decision, she stated, “The grounds for relief that Tesla relies upon are virtually the same as those Tesla put forth previously during the course of trial and in their briefings on summary judgment—arguments that were already considered and rejected.”
Plaintiffs' lead attorney Brett Schreiber commented, “We are of course pleased, but also completely unsurprised that the honorable Judge Bloom upheld the jury’s verdict finding Tesla liable for the integral role Autopilot and the company’s misrepresentations of its capabilities played in the crash that killed Naibel and permanently injured Dillon.”
Tesla intends to appeal to a higher court and cites a pre-trial agreement that could cap punitive damages at three times the compensatory amount, potentially reducing the payout but still leaving a nine-figure judgment. This ruling occurs amid increasing legal scrutiny of Tesla's driver-assistance technology, including recent settlements and regulatory findings on misleading marketing.
