Posted on 07/20/2022 12:51:30 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Suicidal, homicidal grifters.
No, his insurance company will pay the big dollars.
Riley and Martinez, both 18, were wearing their seat belts while backseat occupant Alexander Berry, 18, was unbelted and ejected from the car.
Firefighters arrived to find the Model S fully engulfed in flames and Mr. Berry sitting on the sidewalk.
I totally blame this jury. They know Tesla bears 0 responsibility but don’t want the company to be able to counter sue for attorney fees.
“How did Tesla “deactivate the speed limiter”?
No doubt just some menu setting on a screen. Probably takes a password or PIN to activate/deactivate, it’s all software nowadays. Tesla admits their technician deactivated the speed limiter, but said the teen tricked the technician.
I can’t understand the mentality of wealthy parents giving or allowing their newly licensed teenagers a very fast sports car to drive. I know of several whose kids got into either expensive or serious accidents.
Reminded me of kid in my neighborhood in South Miami back in the 70s. Blew through a stop sign at a T intersection going estimated 90mph and hit a solid coral rock wall 3’ thick and 4’ high set into the ground 2’ deep.
Well considering the teenager technically did not own the car, the dealer should have asked the parents who actually did own the car. They didn't sign a waiver with the dealership allowing the son to have power of attorney over the car. The state of Texas won't even let me pay for my 86 year old mother's license sticker in person each year for her BMW 535i without showing a signed power of attorney form.
I agree. I don’t see any discussion of a billion bucks. In CA, at least, the wrongful death action recovery is based on the value of the “comfort, society and support” the decedent would likely have given the wrongful death heirs. Someone so young there’s be no basis to conclude he’d be vastly wealthy in the future, which is what would need to be show to support a billion dollar damage finding. Essentially, no 18 year old’s wrongful death case is worth a billion bucks, at least not in CA
Though jurors found Barrett Riley 90% responsible and his father 9% responsible for the crash, it awarded James Riley $4.5 million and Jenny Riley $6 million.
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This is absurd. The parents and the kid are 99% responsible for the accident, but Telsa, with 1% responsibility, has to pay $10M. If I was Tesla, I’d appeal the case.
The party with “deep pockets” is frequently screwed over, and that is an injustice. It’s just more “take from the rich because they are rich”, and Elon Musk is the richest of the rich. The “teen” in this story was 18, a legal adult. There is no reason to hold anyone else accountable for his actions. Unless you want to blame the parents for raising an idiot son, it is 100% his fault. He (an adult) requested the speed limiter be removed, then drove recklessly and caused the death of himself and another person. He is dead, so the only accountability should be on his insurance company, not Musk and Tesla shareholders.
I guess you’re right! That’s means we’re all paying it...LOL.
Even if the governor (limiter) had been functioning, under the other circumstances, I’d say ol’ Barret had a very high risk of killing himself or others anyway. Doing 116 mph just sort of sealed the deal.
Oops, strike that “a”... :-)
Article said the limit removed was 85mph limit. Idiot kid was in a 25mph zone and tried to pass someone on a curve. Lack of common sense when it comes to basic physics.
The parents should have just made the little speed freak walk where ever he went.
To date 38 people have been roasted in fires in Teslas.
Before the litigation epidemic started, FoMoCo was forced to stop producing its Pinto subcompact auto after “just” 27 people had died from fire-related causes after a rear impact of their car.
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