Brett Schreiber, Partner at Singleton Schreiber in San Diego and Wailuku, was recently featured in a Law360 article, "Victim's Family Says Tesla 'Set Stage' For Fatal Fla. Crash," published on July 14, 2025. The article covers the opening of the first third-party wrongful death case involving Tesla's Autopilot system, now at trial in Miami federal court, where jurors will determine if the Autopilot was at fault for a pedestrian's death and if Tesla had failed to warn consumers about its dangers.
The lawsuit centers on an April 25, 2019, crash in Key Largo where Mr. George McGee's Tesla Model S (allegedly on Autopilot) slammed into a stationary Chevrolet Tahoe at 70 mph at an intersection, killing Ms. Naibel Benavides Leon and injuring her boyfriend, Mr. Dillon Angulo. The lawsuit alleges Tesla's Autopilot was defectively designed and that the company failed to warn consumers about its dangers.
In his opening statement to the jury, Mr. Schreiber asserted that while driver Mr. McGee was a "bad actor," Tesla's actions "set the stage" for the tragic incident:
"This is a case about shared responsibility. We do not run from the fact that Mr. McGee was a bad actor, but every actor needs a stage, and the evidence will show Tesla set the stage."
Mr. Schreiber also detailed how Mr. McGee had paid for an enhanced Autopilot feature and pointed to other crashes where Tesla's Autopilot failed to detect obstacles with distracted drivers. He also criticized Tesla's public touting of Autopilot's capabilities and its alleged disregard for safety recommendations:
"It's like your old cruise control, but it speeds up and slows down based on what is going on in front of it," said Mr. Schreiber.
Mr. Schreiber further challenged Tesla's lack of response to government recommendations, asking, "Other manufacturers all provided responses to the government. Only one manufacturer ignored it and said nothing to the government. Why did they refuse to respond to the federal government's efforts? Hubris? Arrogance? Greed? The choice will be yours."
Law360 also noted Tesla's response, which countered that the case is about a reckless driver, not Autopilot. Tesla argued that Mr. McGee was looking for his phone while pressing the accelerator aggressively, and that plaintiffs bear the burden of proof to demonstrate a defect caused the injuries.
Mr. Schreiber's trial is expected to last three weeks, with the family seeking both compensatory and punitive damages. U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom has emphasized that courtroom proceedings will remain public, despite Tesla's objections regarding trade secrets, stating, "I'm going to say emphatically that the courtroom door is going to remain open."
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. It proceeds amidst ongoing NHTSA investigations into Autopilot’s safety and a December 2023 recall of over 2 million Tesla vehicles.
