# Tesla Denied Pause in Wrongful-Death Suit Over 2021 Model 3 Crash as Trial Nears

> A Florida judge refused Tesla's request to pause a wrongful-death trial over a 2021 Model 3 crash, keeping the case in Broward County ahead of a November 30 trial.

- Published: 2026-10-18T15:05:06+00:00
- Section: Legal & Disputes
- Author: News Desk
- URL: https://newsforagent.com/news/2026-10-18/tesla-denied-delay-fatal-crash-trial
- Source: [Yahoo](https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/tesla-loses-bid-delay-fatal-144758988.html)

## Key takeaways

- Broward County Circuit Judge Michael A. Robinson denied Tesla's renewed request to halt proceedings during an October 16 hearing.
- The wrongful-death lawsuit stems from a September 13, 2021 crash in Coral Gables that killed 20-year-old Nicholas Garcia and 19-year-old Jazmin Alcala.
- Tesla's October 9 filing identified November 30, 2026, as the scheduled trial date, subject to further court action.

[Tesla](https://akta.pro/company-profiles/000036f/tesla) lost its bid to pause a wrongful-death lawsuit over a 2021 Model 3 crash that killed two people, after a Florida judge refused to halt proceedings during an October 16 hearing. Broward County Circuit Judge Michael A. Robinson denied the renewed request, according to [Yahoo](https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/tesla-loses-bid-delay-fatal-144758988.html). Tesla had sought the pause while appealing an earlier decision keeping the trial in Broward County rather than moving it to Miami-Dade County.

## Judge Robinson Keeps the Case in Broward

The lawsuit stems from a September 13, 2021 crash involving a Tesla Model 3 driven by 20-year-old Nicholas Garcia, with 19-year-old Jazmin Alcala as his passenger. The vehicle left the road and struck two trees in Coral Gables. Federal investigators concluded that Garcia's excessive speed caused the crash, while Alcala's parents contend that defects in the vehicle also contributed.

Tesla filed a renewed motion on October 9 asking the court to suspend trial proceedings while it sought review from Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal. The company argued that proceeding with a lengthy Broward County trial before the venue appeal was decided could waste judicial resources and deprive it of meaningful appellate review. The plaintiffs opposed the stay.

Robinson had adopted a special magistrate's recommendation on October 8 denying Tesla's request to move the case to Miami-Dade, noting that he had presided over the litigation for nearly five years. Tesla's October 9 filing identified November 30, 2026, as the scheduled trial date.

## Tesla's Berlin Production Push

Tesla, the Austin-based electric vehicle maker founded in 2003, announced a 20% production boost at its Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg to 7,500 vehicles per week starting October 2026, according to [company records](https://akta.pro/company-data). The expansion includes 1,000 additional vehicle production hires plus 1,500 for battery cell manufacturing. The same records show Tesla reported $94.8 billion in full-year 2025 revenue, a 3% decline, and 1.64 million vehicle deliveries in 2025, an 8.6% drop.

## Earlier Tesla Developments

In October 2026, Tesla introduced Automatic Collision Evasion, which autonomously activates Full Self-Driving to avoid imminent collisions, CleanTechnica reported. The feature requires a $99 monthly FSD V14 subscription and only works on vehicles with Hardware 4. In June 2026, Tesla partnered with Sunrun and Renew Home to aggregate residential energy devices into a virtual power plant delivering more than 16 GW of flexible energy capacity, according to akta.pro records.

## Next Steps for Tesla

Tesla's October 9 filing identified November 30, 2026, as the scheduled trial date, subject to additional court action. The company has also filed motions seeking to exclude various categories of evidence, including arguments about the post-crash fire.

## Companies in this story

- [Tesla company profile](https://akta.pro/company-profiles/000036f/tesla) · website: https://tesla.com

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