The car company run by Elon Musk asked a federal court Friday to dismiss massive damages awarded to victi
ms of a deadly crash, arguing that their lawyers had misled the jury by improperly bringing up the billionaire during the trial.
The filing in Miami federal court seeks to overturn the $243 million award after a 22-year old student out stargazing
was flung through the air to her death by a runaway Tesla equipped with Autopilot features that Musk had talke
d up for years. A jury earlier this month found that the speeding Tesla driver was mostly to blame but Tesla was also resp
onsible because of faulty technology.
The case has been watched closely by carmakers racing to develop fully self-driving features. They fear it could porte
nd massive liability risks should future juries reviewing accidents decide carmakers are also to blame even when drivers act recklessly.
“If the verdict is allowed to stand, it will chill innovation, harm
road safety and invite future juries to punish manufacturers who bring new safety features to market,” the company said in the filing.
Related: Tesla Must Pay $243 Million Over Fatal Autopilot Crash
Tesla is also arguing that opposing lawyers “led the jury astray” by introducing “highly prejudicial but irrelevant
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evidence” suggesting Tesla had hid or lost video and data that, after it was dug up by the opposing side, helped recreat
e what went wrong
moments before the crash. Tesla had said that it made a mistake in not offering up the evidence earlier and did not do that deliberately.
Musk had taken a big chance by allowing the case to go to trial
at a pivotal moment for his electric car company. He is trying to convince Americans that his self-driving technology, improved since the 2019 crash, can be truste
d amid ambitious plans to roll out driverless Tesla robotaxis around the country.
Many similar cases against Tesla had either been dismissed or been settled by the company before going to trial.
The plaintiff lawyers revealed in a court filing last week that they had told Tesla that they were willing to acce
pt $60 million to settle. But Tesla refused. In the end, the jury decided on
he family of the killed Naibel Benavides and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, amounting to four times that amount.
The filing by Tesla on Friday asked the judge to grant it a new trial, throw out the award or at least vastly reduce it.
The jury held that Tesla bore significant responsibility because its technology failed even though the driver had admitted he was wrong to be distracted by h
is cellphone. The driver had settled separately with the Benavides family and Angulo. Tesla has said the technology had nothing to do with the crash.