Tesla has reached a settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit involving a fatal crash in Ohio, marking a rare legal concession by the electric vehicle maker, which has previously said it does not settle cases unless at fault.
The lawsuit was filed by the estate of Clyde Leach, 72, who died in 2022 after his Tesla Model Y reportedly accelerated unexpectedly, veered off the road, and crashed into a pillar at a gas station before catching fire. Leach suffered blunt force trauma, burns, and other injuries, according to court documents.
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Tesla confirmed in a federal court filing in San Francisco on Monday that it had agreed to settle the case. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.
The suit alleged that a defect in the vehicle caused “sudden unintended acceleration.” While Tesla has faced similar claims in the past, U.S. safety regulators have generally attributed such incidents to driver error, typically pressing the accelerator instead of the brake.
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The Leach settlement follows another high-profile case Tesla resolved last year involving Walter Huang, a Model X owner who died in a 2018 crash while using Autopilot. That case focused on Tesla’s advanced driver assistance system.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has previously taken a hardline stance against settlements. In 2022, Musk wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “We will never seek victory in a just case against us, even if we will probably win. We will never surrender/settle an unjust case against us, even if we will probably lose.”
Musk also announced at the time that Tesla was building a team of “hardcore lawyers” to defend the company’s legal positions more aggressively.
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In 2023, Tesla also settled a claim in the UK over its Full Self-Driving software, resulting in a refund for the purchaser.
The Leach case is one of the few wrongful death suits Tesla has settled, and it may signal a shift in the company’s legal strategy as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its vehicles and driver-assistance technology.