Singleton Schreiber attorneys Brett Schreiber, Carmela Birnbaum, and Srinivas Hanumadass were mentioned by Law 360 in their article, "Tesla Driver In Fatal Crash Regularly Ignored Autopilot Alerts," published on July 17, 2025.
The article discusses the opening of the first third-party wrongful death case involving Tesla's Autopilot system, now at trial in Miami federal court. Jurors will determine if the Autopilot was at fault for a pedestrian's death, if Tesla's Autopilot was defectively designed, and if the company failed to warn consumers about its dangers.
The lawsuit against Tesla, led by Mr. Brett Schreiber (Founding Partner), Mr. Carmela Birnbaum (Counsel), and Mr. Srinivas Hanumadass (Counsel), centers on an April 25, 2019, automobile crash in Key Largo where driver George McGee's Tesla Model S, allegedly operating on Autopilot, slammed into a stationary Chevrolet Tahoe at 70 mph at an intersection. This vehicle collision killed Naibel Benavides Leon and injured her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo.
According to Law360, Schreiber's legal team presented expert witness Mr. Alan Moore, a mechanical and forensic engineer, who testified that Mr. McGee regularly misused the Autopilot system, resetting it after warnings rather than driving without it. Moore argued that "Tesla's decision to allow autopilot use on this road was a bigger contributor to the accident than Mr. McGee's use of autopilot." In contrast, Tesla's attorney, Mr. Joel Smith, argued the case is solely about a reckless driver, not Autopilot, contending that Mr. McGee was distracted and pressing the accelerator, which disengaged the Autopilot, rendering the Autopilot feature "off" at the time of the crash.
Law 360 also notes that the trial is expected to last three weeks (with the family seeking both compensatory and punitive damages), that the case against Tesla proceeds amidst ongoing NHTSA investigations into Autopilot’s safety and a December 2023 recall of over 2 million Tesla vehicles, and that U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom has affirmed that courtroom proceedings will remain public, despite Tesla's objections regarding trade secrets.
The case is Benavides v. Tesla Inc., case number 1:21-cv-21940, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
