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.