Elon Musk will speak on May 30, 2025 at the White House in Washington, DC, during a press conference with US President Donald Trump (not pictured).
Nathan Howard | Reuters
Tesla CEO Elon Musk was not in Miami's court on Monday, but his name was loomed large as he was chosen for the federal trial of a civil suit over a 2019 crash crash of another badly injured Tesla Model S, who killed a pedestrian and another badly injured Tesla Model S when the car was in autopilot mode.
“Everything Elon Musk is involved is very difficult for me,” said one potential ju umpire.
Another ju umpire said it was fair and unfair to Tesla because of the company's “what we saw in the news about ethics, ownership and its relationship with the government.”
The case is the first lawsuit against Tesla in connection with a fatal crash that puts the electric vehicle company's autopilot system on trial.
And a few months after President Donald Trump's top advisor's Musk's job as a famous name for the billionaire, it became synonymous with the massive federal work cuts made by the efficiency of his inventor.
The wealthiest man in defeat with Trump in the world over the president's federal tax reform and spending bills made headlines and injected fresh drama into a typically stable congressional vote.
Tesla's lawyer Thomas Brannigan told a future ju umpire on Monday that “it's difficult to hear the name Elon Musk and has no positive or negative views.”
“The incident is not about musk, but he is connected to the company,” Brannigan said.
Three ju umpires raised their hands and said yes, they had an opinion on the mask, which would make it impossible for them to approach the case impartially.
The Tesla vehicle will pass Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Court on July 14, 2025, as the selection of ju judges began in Miami, Florida in connection with a claim regarding the safety of Tesla's autopilot system.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
“That's going to be difficult. He understands that it's not Tesla, but he's very tied to the Tesla brand,” one man said.
Two other ju apprentices who had previously expressed negative opinions on Musk, repeated these views to Tesla's lawyers.
Brannigan asked one ju umpire about what the man wrote in response to a ju umpire survey about hearing things in news related to Tesla.
The other two ju umpires who had previously spoken to Musk spoke again and shared the same opinion.
“This case is more about what happened than who it is,” the man replied.
“I'm pretty independent,” he said. “I can be fair, it's the accident and what happened.”
Six women and three men were selected for the ju appellate.
The US District Court lawsuit was filed against Tesla by the family of Nybel Benavidez, a pedestrian who died in the crash, and his seriously injured boyfriend, Dillon Anglo. The vehicle driver, George McGee, is not a defendant in the trial, and he reportedly reportedly settled with the plaintiff before.
The plaintiffs argue that Tesla's autopilot capabilities are defective and unsafe.
This is one of more than 12 cases where Tesla has been sued for a fatal or harmful crash in which the company's autopilot or fully autonomous (supervisor) mode was used by the driver.
FSD is a premium version of Tesla's partially automated driving system. Autopilot is a standard option for all new Tesla vehicles.
Tesla's website now describes Autopilot as “an advanced driver assistance system that enhances safety and convenience behind the wheels.”
“In addition, fully autonomous driving (supervisor) allows you to drive Tesla vehicles almost anywhere, change lanes, select forks according to navigation routes, navigate other vehicles and objects, and make left and right turns under active supervision,” Tesla says.
After the ju judge was selected, plaintiff's lawyer Brett Schreiber said in an opening statement that “When evidence was presented before and after this crime, Tesla ignored the warning.”
“You'll hear evidence of these motivations and why Tesla did what they did,” Schreiber said. “Was it the Silicon Valley spirit of moving fast and breaking things? That's going to be a determination.”
“What's not fighting for is that the driver who fell crashed was careless and distracted, dropped it on the phone and grabbed it,” the lawyer said. “He plowed my clients at about 60 mph.”
“This is an example of sharing responsibility. Tesla is not responsible for the failure of the autopilot system. We prove that every actor needs a stage and that Tesla sets the stage for preventable actions that will bring us here,” Schreiber said.
The lawyer told the ju judge.
Schreiber said at one meeting that the car was “safeer than humans.”
In a statement provided to NBC News, Tesla said, “This crash has nothing to do with Tesla's autopilot technology. Instead, like so many unfortunate accidents since the invention of the phone, this was caused by distracted drivers.”
“For his trust, he took responsibility for his actions while searching for a mobile phone to fall. He also pushed the accelerator against him during a crash, speeding and overriding the car's system. In 2019, when this happened, there was no crash avoidance technology that could have prevented this tragic accident,” the company said.
– Dan Mangan reported from New York, Maria Pinero reported from Miami