{"id":238239,"date":"2026-04-19T22:29:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T22:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/238239\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T22:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T22:29:07","slug":"grieving-family-takes-tesla-to-civil-trial-for-negligence-in-broward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/238239\/","title":{"rendered":"Grieving family takes Tesla to civil trial for negligence in Broward"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2014 Grieving parents attempted to hold Tesla responsible for two deaths during a civil case in 2022, and they will be trying again in court on Monday. <\/p>\n

Edgar Monserratt Martinez and Barrett Riley were both 18-year-old seniors preparing to graduate from the Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale when they died. <\/p>\n

Riley was driving a 2014 Tesla Model S at 116 mph in a 30 mph zone when he crashed in 2018 into a wall along Seabreeze Boulevard, records showed.<\/p>\n

The grieving families claim Riley and Monserratt survived the crash on May 8, 2018, but not the fire that followed when the batteries ignited<\/a>, records showed.<\/p>\n

Riley\u2019s parents, James and Jenny Riley, claimed Tesla had designed defective lithium-ion batteries<\/a>. The lawsuit was dismissed. <\/p>\n

Riley\u2019s parents also claimed Tesla installed a device to prevent travel above 85 mph, and a Tesla technician in Dania Beach removed it without their consent. <\/p>\n

Attorneys representing Tesla denied both accusations and focused on Riley\u2019s driving record. <\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the civil trial in 2022, a jury ruled Riley was most responsible, so Tesla was only liable for $105,000. <\/p>\n

In the more recent civil lawsuit, Monserratt\u2019s loved ones claimed Tesla was negligent. The civil trial is set to begin on Monday in Broward County. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2014 Grieving parents attempted to hold Tesla responsible for two deaths during a civil case…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-238239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}