— A Tesla Model 3 wrongful death lawsuit alleges the door handles, automatic emergency braking system and battery defects caused a crash and fire, a serious injury to the driver and the death of the passenger.
According to the lawsuit, plaintiff Jeffery L. Dennis was driving a 2018 Tesla Model 3 with his wife Wendy Dennis in the passenger seat in Tacoma, Washington.
The Model 3 allegedly accelerated out of control without driver input and crashed into a utility pole, although the automatic emergency braking feature didn't activate.
The January 2023 crash caused a fire that sent bystanders to the Model 3 in an attempt to remove the couple from the vehicle, but the door handles purportedly failed to operate. In addition, the fire prevented bystanders of breaking a window with a baseball bat.
Mrs. Dennis died that same day due to the crash and Mr. Dennis suffered extreme burns of his legs and other injuries.
According to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office, Mrs. Dennis died from multiple blunt force injuries.
The Tesla lawsuit alleges the interior door handles failed due to electricity being cut in the Model 3 crash. This would require the use of an interior manual release to open a front door, with the release located next to the buttons on the door.
However, the lawsuit contends Tesla should pay up because the occupants were not warned about the "hidden manual release."
The Tesla door handle lawsuit also names other alleged "defects" which caused the crash, including sudden unintended acceleration, design failures of the automatic emergency braking system, and defects in the high voltage battery which caught fire due to the crash.
Tesla Model 3 Crash Lawsuit — Tesla's Response
The automaker told the judge it is not responsible for the crash or any injuries and completely disputes the allegations in the door handle lawsuit. Tesla maintains there was nothing defective about the Model 3, but the primary response from Tesla concerns a claim for punitive damages.
Punitive damage are for the sole purpose of punishing a company for alleged wrongdoing, in some cases resulting in billions of dollars.
This has recently been seen with a $1.7 billion verdict against Ford over a crushed truck roof, a separate verdict against Ford for $2.5 billion in a different Ford truck roof collapse verdict, and a $1 billion verdict against Mitsubishi over a 25-year-old seat belt.
In other words, a company is terrified of a claim for punitive damages, and in the case of the Model 3 crash, Tesla says punitive damages should not even be in play.
The door handle lawsuit was filed in the state of Washington, but the plaintiffs assert a claim for punitive damages under California law.
According to Tesla, there is a clear reason for this. Washington law does not permit punitive damages without express authorization from the legislature.
But Tesla told the judge since California’s punitive damages law applies to this door handle lawsuit, the related two-year statute of limitations to the punitive damages claim must also be applied.
"Here, Plaintiffs allege that the crash occurred on January 7, 2023. But Plaintiffs did not file their Complaint until nearly three years later, on November 21, 2025. Plaintiffs’ claim for punitive damages is therefore untimely, as it was filed long after the applicable two-year statute of limitations period had run. What happened to the Dennises is a tragedy, but, under applicable, binding law, their claim for punitive damages must be dismissed." — Tesla
Tesla further references a separate case (Desranleau v. Hyland’s) where a court faced virtually identical circumstances where the lawsuit was filed in Washington but included a California punitive damages claim. In that lawsuit the court affirmed dismissal of the California punitive damages claim which commenced more than two years after the incident.
The Tesla door handle lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington: Jeffery L. Dennis, et al, v. Tesla, Inc.
The plaintiffs are represented by Rivera Law Offices, PLLS, and Peggy Underbrink.