A wrongful-death suit filed days after a Model 3 ploughed into a Katy home leans on the same argument that produced last year’s $243m Florida verdict.
The family of a 76-year-old woman killed when a Tesla crashed through the wall of her home near Houston has sued the carmaker and the driver, less than a week after the crash.
The wrongful-death suit, filed in Harris County District Court by Jennifer and Justin Barbour, the daughter and son-in-law of Martha Avila, names Tesla and 44-year-old driver Michael Butler as defendants and seeks more than $1m plus punitive damages.
It is the latest test of whether Tesla can be held liable for what its driver-assistance software does.
The crash itself is not in dispute. According to the petition, Butler was driving a Model 3 eastbound on Rose Hollow Lane at about 8pm on June 19 when the car left the road and crashed through the front wall of the Barbour family home.
