A federal judge has rejected a request by Tesla to scrap a $243 million payout to victims of a fatal 2019 crash involving an Autopilot-equipped Model S, according to a report by Reuters.
In a decision made public on Friday, US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said the evidence presented at trial “more than supported” the jury’s verdict, adding that Tesla has raised no new arguments to set the verdict aside.
The ruling comes after Tesla filed a motion to appeal the verdict last August in the product liability and wrongful death lawsuit. The automaker, led by Elon Musk has sought to have the verdict overturned or to secure a new trial in Florida’s Southern district court, CNBC reported earlier.
How much is Tesla directed to pay?
In August 2025, a jury awarded the victims $329 million in total damages, including $129 million in compensatory damages and $200m in punitive damages aimed at deterring Tesla from similar conduct in the future.
However, Gibson Dunn, the law firm representing Tesla in its appeal, argued that compensatory damages in the case should be sharply reduced from $129 million to no more than $69 million, CNBC reported.
Additionally, the firm also argued that punitive damages should either be scrapped entirely or reduced to, at most, three times compensatory damages, citing Florida’s statutory cap on such awards.
In their motion to appeal, Tesla’s lawyers argued that the Model S vehicle had no design defects, and maintained that, even if such defects were alleged, they could not have caused the crash. The company contends that the accident was entirely the result of driver’s error.
What caused the crash and who were the victims?
The fatal collision occured in 2019 in Key Largo district of Florida, in which 22-year-old Naibel Benavides was killed and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, was severely injured, CNBC reported.
The driver was identified as George McGee, who was operating his Tesla Model S sedan with the company’s Enhanced Autopilot system engaged, a partially automated driver-assistance feature.
While driving, McGee dropped his mobile phone and hurriedly bent down to pick it up. He later testified at the trial that he believed the Enhanced Autopilot system would automatically put brakes if it detected an obstacle in its way.
However, the Model S sped through an intersection at just over 60 miles per hour, crashing into a parked vehicle and striking its owners, who were standing on the other side of their car.
A jury in a Miami federal court earlier said in August that Tesla should compensate the family of the deceased and the injured survivor, paying a $242.5 million portion of a total $329 million in damages which they decided were appropriate, CNBC reported.
