Judge Reid Scott, in the Circuit Court for Palm Beach County, ruled last week that the plaintiff in a lawsuit over a fatal crash could proceed to trial and bring punitive damages claims against Tesla for intentional misconduct and gross negligence.The order has not been previously reported. The ruling is a setback for the American EV maker after it won two product liability trials earlier this year over the Autopilot driver assistant system.
The lawsuit came into existence after a 2019 crash that occurred north of Miami in which owner Stephen Banner’s Tesla Model 3 drove under the trailer of an 18- wheeler big rig truck that had turned onto the road, mowing off the car’s roof and killing Banner. A trial set for October was delayed, and has not been rescheduled.
BMW X5 Facelift Review: Brilliant but worth more than Rs 1 Cr? | TOI Auto
Bryant Walker Smith, a University of South Carolina law professor, called the judge’s summary of the evidence significant because it suggests “alarming inconsistencies” between what Tesla knew internally, and what it marketed. The Florida judge found evidence that Tesla “engaged in a marketing strategy that painted the products as autonomous” and that Musk’s public statements about the Autopilot technology “had a significant effect on the belief about the capabilities of the products.”
Scott also found that the plaintiff, Banner’s wife, should be able to argue to jurors that Tesla’s warnings in its manuals and “clickwrap” agreement were inadequate. “It would be reasonable to conclude that the Defendant Tesla through its CEO and engineers was acutely aware of the problem with the ‘Autopilot’ failing to detect cross traffic”.
TOI Auto urges its readers to stay attentive at all times while driving. While autonomous safety tech is a boon that is growing by the day and now trickling down to affordable cars, one should not completely rely on technology since human senses can help acknowledge situational changes on the road where even the best autonomous tech might fail. When these senses are coupled with ADAS safety tech as a secondary safety net, it helps you make your journey even safer.