A Tesla Model
S. Engelmann | Via Reuters
Tesla has settled a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Walter Huang, an Apple engineer and father of two who died after his Model
The settlement comes as jury selection and trial begin Monday in California Superior Court. The settlement allows Tesla to avoid broadcasting evidence and testimony in a widely watched case.
The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the fatal crash and revealed, in 2020, that it found that Tesla's technology was at least partially responsible for the crash, along with possible driver distraction and road construction problems. The NTSB believes Huang was watching a game on his phone at some point before the collision.
The federal agency found that Tesla's forward collision warning system did not provide an alert, and its automatic emergency braking system did not activate, as Huang's Model — or collision attenuator — positioning may also have contributed to the collision, the NTSB said in 2020.
Huang's bereaved family has sued Tesla for wrongful death and their claims focus in part on alleged safety and design flaws in the company's driver-assistance systems. The case was Sz Huang et al v. Tesla Inc. and others in the Superior Court of California in Santa Clara County.
Huang's lawyers, in court filings, also pointed to social media and marketing messages from Tesla, its CEO Elon Musk, and others, suggesting that Autopilot made Tesla cars safe to drive without the need to remain attentive to the road at all times or without the need to maintain safety. Her cars. Hands on car steering wheel.
In internal Tesla emails referenced in court filings, Tesla executives and engineers discussed how they had become complacent driving their Tesla vehicles with Autopilot or related premium features turned on. They described reading emails and checking their phones while driving with these systems turned on.
A Tesla Model
S. Engelmann | Via Reuters
A civil jury trial was scheduled to begin this week in a San Jose, California, court just before the Tesla settlement.
Tesla's lawyers argued that Huang was an inattentive driver, who ostensibly knew better but was playing mobile games on his phone at the time of the accident.
The company has submitted a request to close the amount mentioned in the settlement agreement from public view.
The fatal crash and the filings in that lawsuit had already thrown Tesla's culture and attitudes on safety and the quality of its driver-assistance systems into question for many shareholders and potential customers.
If a jury had found Tesla liable (partially or fully) for Huang's death, this trial would also have set a precedent in the product liability lawsuits the electric car maker now faces on a large scale, making it easier for other plaintiffs to sue or win related suits. . problems.
In May 2022, Musk declared in a social media post: “We will never seek victory in an unjust case against us, even if we will probably prevail,” adding: “We will never give up/settle an unjust case against us, even if we will probably lose.” “.
Tesla's lead lawyers at Bowman and Brooke LLP were not immediately available for comment Monday.
In a filing asking the court to seal the terms of the settlement, Tesla's lawyers wrote that the company “entered into a settlement agreement with plaintiffs to end years of litigation.” They said they wanted to limit the exact dollar amount of the settlement because “other potential claimants (or the plaintiffs' bar) may view the settlement amount as evidence of Tesla's potential liability for losses, which could have a chilling effect on future settlement chances.” cases.”
Lawyers for the Hwang family, at law firms Minami Tamaki and Walkup Melodia, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.