{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0433","record_version":1,"title":"Judge upholds $243 million verdict against Tesla over fatal Autopilot crash","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":54.4,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":15.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":3.0,"completeness":2.56,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: CNBC · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":2,"reports_independent":1,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: CNBC · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"f36d0c2f0309d6aeafa47121d4d5797505cb3578600fa13a7db8b9fe4c357689"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"Tesla","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-02-20","incident_class":"physical_safety","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"A federal judge in Miami upheld a $243 million jury verdict against Tesla over a fatal 2019 crash in Key Largo, Florida. The driver had Enhanced Autopilot, a partially automated driving system, engaged when he dropped his phone and bent down to retrieve it. The car accelerated through an intersection at just over 60 mph, hitting a parked car and two people standing beside it. One person was killed and the other severely injured. A jury in August 2025 found Tesla partly liable and assigned 33% of the blame to the automaker. Tesla's bid to overturn the verdict was denied, with the judge finding that the evidence at trial more than supported it. Tesla has indicated it will appeal.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null,"primary_risk":"RK18"},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"severe","severity_because":"Safety of life test met: a fatal crash that killed one person and severely injured another.","harm_class":[],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://electrek.co/2026/02/20/tesla-has-to-pay-historical-243-million-judgement-over-autopilot-crash-judge-says/","publisher":"Electrek","date":"2026-02-20","type":"press","title":"Tesla has to pay historic $243 million judgement over Autopilot crash, judge says - Electrek","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"},{"url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/20/tesla-loses-bid-toss-243-million-verdict-fatal-autopilot-crash-suit.html","publisher":"CNBC","date":"2026-02-20","type":"press","title":"Tesla loses bid to toss $243 million verdict in fatal Autopilot crash suit - CNBC","archived_url":null,"independence":"independent"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.developer":"C","impact.severity":"C","impact.severity_because":"D","event.incident_class":"D","event.primary_risk":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","context.country":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.developer":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"Tesla owner George McGee was driving his Model S sedan while using the company's Enhanced Autopilot, a partially automated driving system."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The crash killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon and severely injured her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, who was 26 at the time."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The crash killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon and severely injured her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, who was 26 at the time."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The case stems from a deadly 2019 collision in Key Largo, Florida."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"A federal judge in Miami denied Tesla's bid to toss out a $243 million verdict in a lawsuit that requires the automaker to compensate the family of a 2019 fatal Autopilot crash victim as well as a survivor."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"George McGee was driving his Tesla Model S with Autopilot engaged when he dropped his phone and bent down to retrieve it."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"McGee's car instead accelerated through an intersection at just over 60 mph, hitting a nearby empty parked car as well as Angulo and Benavides, who were standing on the other side of their vehicle."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The crash killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon and severely injured her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, who was 26 at the time."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"In August 2025, a Miami federal jury found Tesla liable for the crash, assigning 33% of the blame to the automaker."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"In her order out Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Beth Bloom wrote that \"evidence admitted at trial more than supports the jury verdict,\" and there was no error previously, or additional argument introduced justifying a new trial or change to the earlier verdict."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Tesla has indicated it will appeal the verdict to a higher court."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"The sources give only the year 2019 for the crash, so date_occurred is omitted. No model version, harness, tools, autonomy level, guardrails, detection method, trigger, root cause or control status for this incident is stated, so those fields are omitted. Electrek's commentary on failed safeguards such as geofencing is opinion and is not used as a control finding. The Tesla discontinuation of Autopilot is not tied to a control in any source, so no remediation is recorded. The date_disclosed value is the Electrek article date, since the ruling is only described as made public on Friday. The direct_loss_usd value is the jury verdict amount, not a measured loss. Severity severe is judged on the safety-of-life test because the crash killed one person. The harm_class and affected_description are taken from the death and injury sentence. The context.country value is judged from the Key Largo, Florida location. The deployment_context value production is a judgement from a public road crash. The industry is not stated in quotable form and is omitted. The count of affected third parties is not stated, so it is omitted. Settlement and damages figures other than the verdict are disputed or unexplained and are left out. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (1 report: CNBC · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"went_wrong","text":"The car accelerated through an intersection at just over 60 mph and hit a parked car and two people.","quote":"McGee's car instead accelerated through an intersection at just over 60 mph, hitting a nearby empty parked car as well as Angulo and Benavides, who were standing on the other side of their vehicle.","source_index":1,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"Tesla has indicated it will appeal the verdict to a higher court.","quote":"Tesla has indicated it will appeal the verdict to a higher court.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://electrek.co/2026/02/20/tesla-has-to-pay-historical-243-million-judgement-over-autopilot-crash-judge-says/","https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/20/tesla-loses-bid-toss-243-million-verdict-fatal-autopilot-crash-suit.html"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Tesla rejected a $60 million settlement offer before the trial.","quote":"Tesla had rejected a $60 million settlement offer before the trial.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"Miami federal jury found Tesla liable and assigned 33% of the blame to the automaker.","quote":"In August 2025, a Miami federal jury found Tesla liable for the crash, assigning 33% of the blame to the automaker.","source_index":0,"when":"2025-08"}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://electrek.co/2026/02/20/tesla-has-to-pay-historical-243-million-judgement-over-autopilot-crash-judge-says/","https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/20/tesla-loses-bid-toss-243-million-verdict-fatal-autopilot-crash-suit.html"]}}