Tesla Loses Crucial Autopilot Ruling That Could Cost Hundreds of Millions
On February 23, 2026, TheStreet published an article titled “Tesla loses crucial Autopilot ruling that could cost hundreds of millions,” highlighting a federal judge’s decision to uphold a $243 million jury verdict against Tesla in connection with a fatal 2019 crash involving Autopilot.
The article features Brett Schreiber, Founding Partner at Singleton Schreiber LLP and counsel for the plaintiffs. The case involves a 2019 Key Largo crash where a Tesla operating with Autopilot struck and killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides and seriously injured Dillon Angulo. A Florida jury found Tesla 33% responsible and awarded $243 million in damages.
U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom affirmed the verdict on February 20, 2026, ruling that the trial evidence “more than supports” the jury’s findings and that Tesla failed to present grounds for reconsideration. Tesla is expected to appeal.
At trial, Schreiber argued that Tesla’s marketing and public statements about Full Self-Driving and Autopilot misled consumers regarding the vehicles’ autonomy and safety.
The article also reviews Tesla’s changes to its driver assistance branding, such as renaming “Full Self-Driving” to “Full Self-Driving (Supervised),” shifting to a subscription model, and removing certain Autopilot features from base models.
