Judge Upholds $243 Million Verdict Against Tesla in Autopilot Crash

A federal judge in Miami has upheld a $243 million jury verdict against Tesla, holding the electric vehicle maker partially responsible for a fatal 2019 crash involving its Autopilot system in Florida.

U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom rejected Tesla's request to overturn or reduce the August 2025 decision on Friday, ruling that the evidence from the trial sufficiently supported the jury's findings. In her order, Bloom noted that Tesla had not introduced any new arguments or legal precedents to justify altering the verdict or prior court decisions. The case stems from an April 25, 2019, incident in Key Largo, where a Tesla Model S driven by George McGee veered off the road and struck a parked SUV on the shoulder of the highway. McGee, who was using Autopilot at the time, had bent down to retrieve a dropped phone, causing him to lose sight of the road. The collision killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon, who was standing beside the vehicle with her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, and severely injured Angulo.

The federal jury determined that Tesla bore 33 percent of the responsibility for the crash, attributing the remaining two-thirds to McGee. Jurors awarded $19.5 million in...