Tesla scores Autopilot victory as judge rules owners must use
arbitration
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[October 03, 2023] By
Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) - In a victory for Tesla, a judge has ruled that a group of
vehicle owners must pursue claims that the company misled about its
Autopilot features in individual arbitration rather than court.
The ruling means Tesla will not have to face class action claims on
behalf of much larger groups of vehicle owners.
U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam in Oakland, California, in a
decision issued on Saturday said four Tesla owners who filed a proposed
class action last year had agreed to arbitrate any legal claims against
the company when they accepted its terms and conditions while purchasing
vehicles through a Tesla website.
A fifth plaintiff who did not sign an arbitration agreement waited too
long to sue, Gilliam ruled in dismissing that plaintiffs' claims.
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.
Andrew Kirtley, a lawyer for some of the plaintiffs, said he was
prepared to file thousands of individual arbitration cases on behalf of
Tesla customers.
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"It is telling that Tesla doesn’t want to defend its marketing practices
in public in open court but instead has fought to get as many of these
claims as possible sent to private arbitration," Kirtley said in an
email.
The lawsuit accuses Tesla of repeatedly making false statements
indicating that its advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) technology
was on the verge of delivering fully self-driving vehicles.
The plaintiffs all said that they paid thousands of dollars to purchase
the optional ADAS technology when they bought Tesla cars between 2017
and 2022.
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![](../images/100323PIX/busine66.jpg)
A Tesla Model 3 vehicle drives on autopilot along the 405 highway in
Westminster, California, U.S., March 16, 2022. REUTERS/Mike
Blake/File Photo
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But instead of delivering on its promises, Tesla's technology has
been unreliable and has led to accidents, injuries and deaths, the
plaintiffs claimed.
Tesla has denied wrongdoing. The company moved to send the claims to
arbitration, citing the plaintiffs' acceptance of the arbitration
agreement.
Gilliam on Saturday rejected claims by the plaintiffs that the
agreements signed by four of the plaintiffs were unenforceable.
The decision came in the midst of the first U.S. trial over
allegations that Tesla's Autopilot feature led to a death because it
was based on untested experimental technology that should not have
been sold to the public.
The plaintiffs in that trial in California state court allege the
Autopilot system caused a Model 3 to veer off a highway near Los
Angeles at 65 mph (105 kph), strike a palm tree and burst into
flames, killing the owner and injuring two passengers.
Tesla has said the accident was the result of driver error.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Alexia
Garamfalvi and Deepa Babington)
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