Miami: A Miami jury decided that Elon Musk’s Tesla was partly responsible for a deadly crash in Florida involving its Autopilot driver assist technology and must pay the victims over $240 million in damages.

The federal jury held Tesla bore significant responsibility as its technology failed and not all the blame can be put on a reckless driver, even one who admitted he was distracted by his cellphone before hitting a young couple out gazing at the stars. The decision comes as Musk seeks to convince Americans his cars are safe enough to drive on their own as he plans to roll out a driverless taxi service in several cities in the coming months.

The decision ends a 4-year-long case remarkable not just in outcome, but it made it to trial. Many similar cases against Tesla have been dismi­ssed and, when that didn’t hap­pen, settled by the company to avoid the spotlight of a trial. “This will open the floodgates,” said Miguel Custodio, a car crash lawyer not involved in the Tesla case. “It will embolden a lot of people to come to court.”

The case included startling charges by lawyers for the fa­mily of deceased Naibel Bena­vides Leon, 22, and her injured boyfriend Dillon Angulo. They claimed Tesla either hid or lost key evidence, including data and video rec­o­rded seconds before the accident. Tesla said it made a mistake after being shown the evidence and hadn’t thought it was there. “We finally learned what happened that night, the car was actually defective,” said Benavides’ sister, Neima Benavides. 

“Justice was achieved.” Tesla has faced criticism it is slow to cough up data by relatives of other victims in crashes, accusations the car firm has denied. In this case, the plaintiffs showed Tesla had the evidence all along, despite its repeated denials, by hiring a forensic data expert who dug it up. “To­day’s verdict is wrong,” Tesla said, “and only works to set ba­ck automotive safety and jeopardise Tesla’s and the ind­ustry’s efforts to develop and implem­ent lifesaving technology.” –AP