Tesla Settles Another Fatal Crash Lawsuit Ahead of Jury Trial

Tesla Inc. reached a confidential deal to resolve a lawsuit by the family of a teenager who was killed in a 2019 California crash involving a Model 3 on Autopilot.

The settlement disclosed in court filings marks the latest move by the electric-vehicle maker to avoid a jury trial over a fatal wreck. A trial was scheduled to start in about a month in Alameda County Superior Court.

The accord comes after after the automaker has struck secret settlements in several other cases that blamed defective technology for deadly accidents. Tesla prevailed in two California trials in 2023 over Autopilot crashes, but suffered its first significant setback in July when a federal jury in Miami found the company partially responsible for a fatal collision with a parked SUV and imposed $200 million in punitive damages. Tesla is challenging the verdict.

In the most recently settled case, Benjamin Maldonado and his 15-year-old son Jovani were driving home from a soccer tournament in their Ford Explorer on Interstate I-880 in Alameda County. Traffic was starting to slow, and Maldonado activated his blinker before moving right. Seconds later, his car was struck by a Tesla Model 3 using the Autopilot driver-assistance software and Jovani was ejected from the passenger seat and died.

Representatives of Tesla and lawyers for the family didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.