Overview
- U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami rejected Tesla’s bid to overturn the August 2025 verdict, writing that the trial evidence more than supported the jury’s findings.
- Jurors found Tesla 33% responsible for the 2019 Key Largo crash and awarded about $43 million in compensatory damages plus $200 million in punitive damages; the driver settled earlier.
- Tesla says it will appeal to the Eleventh Circuit and argues a pre-trial agreement could cap punitive damages at three times its compensatory share, a claim the plaintiffs dispute.
- The case marked the first federal jury verdict holding Tesla liable in a fatal Autopilot-related crash after the company declined a roughly $60 million pre-trial settlement offer.
- Regulatory pressure has intensified as California’s DMV deemed the ‘Full Self-Driving’ name misleading and confirmed Tesla dropped ‘Autopilot’ from marketing, while the company has settled multiple similar lawsuits with dozens still pending.