Featured Autopilot settlement

"The Tesla owners said they paid an extra $5,000 to have their cars equipped with the Autopilot software with additional safety features such as automated emergency braking and side collision warning.

The features were “completely inoperable,” according to the complaint.


Under the proposed agreement, class members, who paid to get the Autopilot upgrade between 2016 and 2017, will receive between $20 and $280 in compensation. Tesla has agreed to place more than $5 million into a settlement fund, which will also cover attorney fees."

 

class action doesn't seem to work for anyone but the attorneys.

 

I never would have thought it.

 

If it looks like a whirlpool, and it sucks money like a whirlpool, it’s a whirlpool.

A Ponzi whirlpool, involving vapor ware and “faith”

 

$5M for non-working software that people paid $500M to buy. Looks like either A) tesla is paying a small fee to make this go away, or B) the lawyers for those aggrieved did a really sh&tty job and just wanted to get their cut. I am thinking the software is now at a stage where it is delivering on its promise but much later than many buyers thought. Buyer beware. Complicated software often doesn't work as intended from day one. IMHO tesla should have been more honest about the state of the software, but it was not fraud.

 

Uh... k.

Guess this helps with not even one payment for my $100k car.

These lawyers sucks!

 

right ....
and - what's your $100k car's VIN?
.......
and - (like in ANY class action) so why didn't you opt out of the class?
....
and - did you even bother to read what the decision was based on?

SO - for some, like our family, who actually made the safety purchase over a year ago, versus someone who just bought a few weeks prior to software running properly, (yet getting the same settlement, despite less time waiting for proper operation) PLEASE - explain what the more appropriate settlement amount should be .... for the inconvenience of having to wait X amt of time for proper operation.
......
and - do you have even a clue, how many $1,000s & $1,000's in costs it takes just to get the firm's foot in the door - apeal after apeal, not including investigative / research costs?
.......
and - do you know how many (contingency based - no win = zero recovery) class actions that firms have to be successful at, in order to survive the loser ratios?
........
and - any idea how many $1,000's in cash & /or hours this & /or other firms donate for free to poverty law firm's so the underprivileged can get into a court, justto be heard?
Yea, these lawyers suck.
Some would make the same blanket statement, about folks that make blanket statements.
.

 

ouch, someone struck a nerve.

 

More folks ought to either read the book or watch the movie based on a true story, 'A Civil Action' - where the do-gooder atty is driven to near bankruptcy via attrition as big corporate chemical giant stalls - finally settling ~$300K per e/ cancer victim, who damned their attorney for the small amt - so he even divides his pay among the victims causing him to have to file for bankruptcy after losing his leveraged condo & car - money he also poured into the case. So he had to live in his office for a time.
Hmmmm, tryin' to remember why i went inactive over a decade ago ...

.

 

did, our backyard and both the book and movie were well written.

however, i don't consider this action against tesla any more than a cash grab, and certainly doesn't compare to people dying from cancer due to pollution.

 

He or his family must be "that" lawyer I was having fun of? Hehehe.

 

Let me see if I remember some of what lawyers do for that fee.

They hear about an opportunity. They research to see if the opportunity is worth pursuing, put together an estimate of costs, assemble the named litigants who will get more than the passive members of a potential class.

Then they present the opportunity to the partners who have to figure out the risk/reward, what other opportunities the firm is funding, which are the most promising, can they afford the investment now.

Then assuming approval to proceed, they pay for publicity and manage the data base containing the class members.

They pay for expert witnesses. Pursue discovery. Wait for a court date to be assigned which can be months or years away.

Negotiate with the party or parties being sued. Either go to trial or present the proposed negotiated settlement to the court.

Assuming they win maybe there are appeals. These can drag on for years.

Assuming they have a negotiated settlement, the court has to approve it and their proposed fees can be reduced by the court.

Once money is disbursed to the firm, they have to then find all the class action members. And pay them.

And all this time, they are spending money and not getting paid. And if they lose, nothing or more expensive appeals. And if their fee is reduced by the court, the business case for accepting the risk of taking on this case is shot to heck.

 

Knowing 4yrs of history - most Tesla owners ponied up the $5K knowing it would be slow to Implement, as was AP1. Reading how at least one person got their whole $5K back in the early 1st couple of months of being inoperable, we figured we could do the same, but waited - not wanting to just have to re-enable it later. So .... yea sure .... we'll take the $280.