A few months before the ju judge awarded a $242.5 million verdict against Tesla for negligence in the 2019 fatal crash crash, the automaker had the opportunity to settle $60 million. Instead, Tesla rejected the offer, according to a new legal filing originally reported by Reuters.
The settlement proposal, which took place in May, was disclosed in a filing that required Tesla to compensate the plaintiffs in the case for legal costs.
Earlier this month, a ju judge in a federal court in Miami determined that Tesla was due to a fatal crash in 2019, including the use of the company’s autopilot driver assistance system. One was killed when the autopilot was ploughed from the intersection and the Tesla Model S who hit the Chevrolet Tahoe was killed. Clash victim Neima Benavides Leon and her boyfriend Dillon Anglo were standing outside the car on their shoulders at the time. Leon is killed while Anguilo was seriously injured.
In this case, the driver, who was not the accused, was sued individually for his liability. The lawsuit filed against Tesla in 2021 was centered around Autopilot and did not brake in time to avoid passing through the intersection. The ju apprentices assigned two-thirds of responsibility to the driver, with a third attributing to Tesla. As part of the verdict, the ju judge awarded a $242.5 million verdict as part of the decision.
Tesla said in a statement provided to TechCrunch earlier this month it plans to appeal the verdict “in light of the law at the trial and considerable errors in fraud.”
TechCrunch contacts not only Tesla but also the plaintiff’s attorneys. An outside PR company that previously provided a statement on Tesla’s behalf declined to comment and directed TechCrunch to the company’s press address. Tesla disbanded its communications team a few years ago.
The suit, lawsuit 1:21-CV-21940-BB was filed in 2021 in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
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