Tesla reportedly turned down a $60 million settlement proposal before being hit with a $243 million penalty in a high-profile lawsuit over a fatal 2019 crash involving Autopilot.
According to Reuters, lawyers for the plaintiffs disclosed the settlement offer in a court filing this week as part of a request for legal fees, which they argue Tesla is now liable for under Florida law. The offer was made on May 30, just weeks before the case went to trial.
Earlier this month, a jury in Miami found Tesla partially liable in the Key Largo crash that killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon and seriously injured her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo. The victims were standing next to their parked Chevrolet Tahoe on a shoulder when a Model S on Autopilot struck them.
Jurors awarded $129 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages, with Tesla responsible for $42.6 million of the compensatory damages and all of the punitive damages. The jury found the driver, George McGee, 67% responsible for the compensatory damages, but he was not a defendant in the case.
Tesla has denied wrongdoing and vowed to appeal the verdict, arguing that Autopilot requires constant driver supervision and that the crash was caused by McGee looking away to retrieve his phone. The automaker said the decision “only works to set back automotive safety and jeopardize efforts to implement life-saving technology.”
The trial marked the first time Tesla faced a jury over the wrongful death of a third party linked to Autopilot. While the company faces growing scrutiny over its driver-assistance software, recent data suggests Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system is now 26 times safer than the average U.S. driver.
Still, the $243 million ruling underscores the risks Tesla faces as Autopilot and FSD remain under the legal and regulatory spotlight.
