Three State Attorneys General Join Forces to Overturn $243M Tesla Autopilot Death Verdict

On April 25, 2019, George Mackey was driving a 2019 Tesla Model S. After activating the vehicle’s Autopilot feature, he bent over to pick up his phone. The car, traveling at approximately 100 km/h, ran a red light and ignored a stop sign before colliding with a parked Chevrolet Tahoe, killing 22-year-old Naibell Benavides Leon and seriously injuring her boyfriend, Dylan Angulo. In August 2025, a federal jury in Miami found Tesla 33% liable for the crash and ordered the company to pay approximately $43 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages, totaling roughly $243 million. On July 9, 2025, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, joined by the attorneys general of Alabama and Georgia, filed a brief urging a federal appeals court to either vacate the verdict entirely or, at minimum, reduce the punitive damages to no more than three times the compensatory award. They argued that the trial court failed to apply Florida’s statutory cap limiting punitive damages to three times the amount of compensatory damages and warned that excessive awards could stifle socially beneficial technological innovation. Meanwhile, on July 7, the Tampa Bay Times reported that Uthmeier’s campaign committee had received a $25,000 donation from a political committee affiliated with Southern Group—approximately three weeks before the brief was filed. Southern Group is one of the lobbying firms representing Tesla in Tallahassee, Florida, and has recently focused its advocacy efforts on liability issues related to advanced driver-assistance systems. The report noted that Southern Group represents numerous clients, and it remains unclear whether the donation was directly linked to Tesla. Additionally, Florida State Senator Tom Leek introduced Senate Bill 1616, which seeks to legislatively limit the liability of manufacturers of advanced driving systems and restrict punitive damages to specific circumstances. The bill stalled in the Judiciary Committee on March 13, 2025. However, given Leek’s potential ascension to Senate President following the 2030 elections, the legislation could be reintroduced in the next legislative session.