EV maker Tesla (TSLA) faces a jury in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the state of California. The lawsuit contends that Tesla's notorious autopilot system was responsible for a fatal car crash that resulted in the death of the driver, Micah Lee, citing negligence on the system's design and Tesla's failure to issue a vehicle recall.

Yahoo Finance Legal Reporter Alexis Keenan explains the details of the lawsuit and charges filed against Tesla, offering insights into the arguments presented by both parties and how the future ruling could set a precedent for future cases levied against the EV company.

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Video Transcript

RACHELLE AKUFFO: Tesla is heading to trial in California today to defend a high stakes lawsuit claiming that its autopilot system caused a crash that killed its driver. Now, the outcome could have serious implications for similar pending cases and the fate of the driving technology itself. Yahoo Finance's Alexis Keenan has the details for us. Alexis, what are you watching?

ALEXIS KEENAN: Hi, Rachelle. Yeah, so this California State case it's the first in a string of lawsuits against Tesla that is involving a fatality and its autopilot system. So the big deal here is this is a fatality in this case. And a jury is going to decide this case.

It's a wrongful death claim alleging that a Model 3 owner, his name is Micah Lee, that he died. And his partner and his son suffered injuries. They say it's because the car's autopilot system caused it to veer off the LA highway and crash Lee's estate says that he did attempt to regain control of that vehicle but wasn't able to at the time.

Now, the legal argument here, it's a negligence-based claim. They say that the company designed, manufactured, and sold autopilot all the while knowing that the product was defective. Tesla for its part says the crash was caused by driver error. And they also had a counterclaim against Lee's estate, saying that he had consumed alcohol before the crash. However, the toxicology report that was done here in this instance showed that he was within the legal limits for driving while having consumed alcohol.

Now Tesla's autopilot, let's just talk briefly about some of the features that it offers. There's a variety. Some of them are autobraking, cruising, speed controls, also some lane correction features. It's not exactly clear which ones were enabled in this case. That'll come out in the trial.

Also Tesla does say in its documents when an owner buys one of these vehicles that the autopilot is meant to reduce overall workload on the driver. But it's intended, they say, for a fully attentive driver whose hands are on the wheel. And the driver must be prepared to take over at any time. They go on to say it is not a self-driving system. Now, this case, as said, it's going to be up to a jury. But it's not the only case. There are other fatal cases involving autopilot that are coming down the pike.

There's another trial in October in Florida that will kick off that was also involving a crash also in 2019 like this case that is kicking off today in court was involving-- and also that was a Model 3 as well, though Tesla has had some success. So far bringing these cases-- or defending these cases, I should say. In April, a California jury said that the company was not liable and attributed a crash to driver error. However, that case wasn't involving a fatality. Guys.

AKIKO FUJITA: Alexis, you just mentioned a string of legal cases that Tesla now faces around autopilot. To what extent does this California case set a precedent for the other cases to come?

ALEXIS KEENAN: So I think what's important here is this is a case involving a death. So that's a first time that Tesla is going to be having to defend those high stakes here. Certainly a case involving a death, a jury is going to take very seriously. And so it could be somewhat of a bellwether for these other cases that are coming along, so it's going to be very important to hear what the jury thinks about liability.

It can be difficult for a company to be in a position where a jury has decided that the product that they made and the way they put it out into the marketplace was a problematic or defective or that they knew that there was a problem and didn't do anything about it.

That's the kind of thing that Tesla won't want to have happen here because that then can be a catalyst for other lawsuits, not to mention drive up settlement costs in order to put these trials behind them. So certainly going to be impactful and something to watch as far as Tesla's valuation because they have staked so, so much on this autopilot capability.

AKIKO FUJITA: OK, we'll all be watching those arguments. And I know you will be, too, Alexis. Alexis Keenan with that very latest around Tesla's latest legal hurdle.