By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) -Tesla failed to persuade a federal judge to end a lawsuit over the death of a woman struck after an Autopilot-equipped Model S ran off the road in Key Largo, Florida, paving the way for a possible trial next month.
U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said the estate of Naibel Benavides Leon, and her former boyfriend Dillon Angulo, may pursue design defect and failure to warn claims against billionaire Elon Musk’s automaker, and seek punitive damages.
A July 14 trial is scheduled. Lawyers for Tesla and the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Tesla, based in Austin, Texas, has long faced questions about the safety of its self-driving technology.
It has said its features are meant for “fully attentive” drivers holding the steering wheel, and the features do not make its vehicles autonomous.
The lawsuit concerned an April 25, 2019 incident where George McGee drove his 2019 Model S at about 62 miles an hour through an intersection into the victims’ parked Chevrolet Tahoe, which they were standing beside on a shoulder.
McGee had reached down to pick up a cellphone he dropped on his car’s floorboard, and allegedly received no alerts as he ran a stop sign and stop light before hitting the SUV, which struck the victims.
Benavides Leon was allegedly thrown 75 feet to her death, while Angulo suffered serious injuries.
In a 98-page decision, Bloom said the plaintiffs offered sufficient evidence that Autopilot defects were a “substantial factor” in their injuries.
While McGee, who is not a defendant, conceded he was not driving safely, that didn’t automatically make him solely responsible, “particularly given McGee’s testimony that he expected Autopilot to avoid the collision,” the judge wrote.
Bloom said the failure to warn claim survived in part because Autopilot’s risks might be hard to extract from the owner’s manual on Model S touchscreens.
The judge also dismissed manufacturing defect and negligent misrepresentation claims.
The case is Benavides v Tesla Inc., U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, No. 21-21940.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, Editing by William Maclean)
