A US federal judge has rejected Tesla's request to overturn a $243 million jury verdict related to a 2019 fatal crash involving the company's Autopilot feature. The ruling holds Tesla partially responsible for the incident that killed one person and injured another. Tesla is expected to appeal the decision.
On Friday, US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami upheld a jury verdict from August 2025 that found Tesla 33% responsible for a deadly crash involving its Autopilot system. The incident occurred on April 25, 2019, in Key Largo, Florida, when George McGee was driving a 2019 Model S at about 62 mph. While using Autopilot, McGee bent down to retrieve a dropped phone and crashed into an SUV parked on the shoulder, where Naibel Benavides Leon, 22, and her boyfriend Dillon Angulo were standing. Benavides was killed, and Angulo was severely injured.
The jury awarded $19.5 million in compensatory damages to Benavides' estate and $23.1 million to Angulo, along with $200 million in punitive damages to be split between them. Judge Bloom stated that the evidence at trial "more than supports" the verdict and that Tesla presented no new arguments to challenge it. This marks the first federal jury verdict concerning a fatal accident involving Autopilot.
Tesla had sought to reverse the decision, arguing that McGee bore sole blame, the Model S and Autopilot were not defective, and the punitive damages were unwarranted under Florida law, as the company did not show "reckless disregard for human life." Adam Boumel, a lawyer for the victims' families, welcomed the ruling. "From day one, Tesla has refused to accept responsibility," Boumel said in an email. "Autopilot was defective, and Tesla put it on American roads before it was ready and before it was safe."
Tesla has not commented publicly but is anticipated to appeal. The company faces ongoing investigations from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features, amid multiple lawsuits over its self-driving technology.