Total compensatory damages, covering actual harms (tangible and intangible): $129 million.
Punitive damages: $200 million.
Sum: $329 million.
Punitive damages are capped at 3x compensatory damages, but that’s not a factor here because it’s less than 2x.
Tesla was assigned 33% of the blame. The driver is 67% to blame.
That gives Tesla a bill of ($129 million * 33%) + ($200 million), because the punitive damages were assessed against Tesla only. Total Tesla payout: $242 million.
The driver is liable for the rest: $87 million. Plaintiffs will presumably be able to extract a tiny fraction of that from insurance.
Okay folks, here’s the financial breakdown.
Total compensatory damages, covering actual harms (tangible and intangible): $129 million. Punitive damages: $200 million. Sum: $329 million.
Punitive damages are capped at 3x compensatory damages, but that’s not a factor here because it’s less than 2x.
Tesla was assigned 33% of the blame. The driver is 67% to blame.
That gives Tesla a bill of ($129 million * 33%) + ($200 million), because the punitive damages were assessed against Tesla only. Total Tesla payout: $242 million.
The driver is liable for the rest: $87 million. Plaintiffs will presumably be able to extract a tiny fraction of that from insurance.
Thank you. That headline is horrible.