EVERETT — A Stanwood family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Tesla last week, alleging the electric car manufacturer is partly liable for a crash that killed a 28-year-old man in 2024.
In April 2024, a Snohomish man driving in a 2022 Tesla Model S was driving home behind a motorcyclist at Fales Road near Monroe, according to a police report. The man, 56 at the time, was driving the Tesla and reportedly looking at his cell phone after having activated his car’s Autopilot feature when he heard a bang, according to a probable cause statement written by a Washington State Trooper at the time. The vehicle lurched forward and lodged on top of a motorcyclist, according to the report.
The motorcyclist, Jeffery Nissen Jr., 28, died at the scene. The driver of the Tesla was arrested but has not yet been charged with a crime. The matter is still under review for a charging decision, wrote Portia Kaleikini, a spokesperson at a Snohomish County prosecutor’s office, in an email Tuesday.
On Jan. 8, Nissen Jr.’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Tesla, alleging that the company failed to warn drivers of the potential dangers of its Autopilot function, and that it had “acted with gross negligence, malice and conscious disregard for public safety” by deploying and marketing its Autopilot function to drivers despite knowledge of its risks. The lawsuit also argues that Tesla advertised Autopilot in a way that overstates its capabilities and hides its deficiencies. The lawsuit names the Tesla driver, now 58, as also being partly liable for the crash.
KOMO News and The Seattle Times previously reported on the suit.
Simeon Osborn, the attorney representing Nissen’s family, said the way the feature is marketed — including the use of the word “autopilot” — made drivers assume the feature was more autonomous than it actually is.
“Just give an address,” he said of the Autopilot feature in an interview Thursday. “‘Take me to 20345 21st,’ right? That’s what it means to most people.”
Tesla did not respond to an email seeking comment. The company’s website states that drivers must remain attentive while using Autopilot, keeping their hands on the wheel. It also states that if a driver ignores visual and audio warnings telling them to pay attention, they will be locked out of using the feature.
Osborn said the family’s goal is to ensure the technology cannot be marketed as “autopilot” or “self-driving,” and to prevent the use of the technology until it has undergone safety improvements.
This is far from the first court case involving Tesla’s Autopilot system. A jury in Miami found in August 2025 that Tesla was partly liable for a fatal crash in 2019 involving Autopilot and ordered millions of dollars in compensation, CNBC reported. Tesla appealed that decision, arguing the crash was caused by the driver. Tesla also settled two other lawsuits regarding Autopilot-related crashes in September 2025. The car company has also faced federal scrutiny for its full self-driving feature.
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
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