Elise R. Sanguinetti

Elise R. Sanguinetti, a partner at Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Team, LLP, has established herself as a distinguished attorney focusing on personal injury, wrongful death, civil appeals and legal malpractice.

In one of her significant cases, she filed a catastrophic injury and wrongful death suit against Tesla. Derrick Monet v. Tesla, Inc., 5:22-CV-00681-NC (N.D. Cal., filed Feb. 2, 2022).

This case arose from a fatal incident involving Tesla’s “Autopilot” system, which malfunctioned and resulted in a collision with a firetruck, killing the occupant. This lawsuit is critical as it challenges Tesla’s claims about the capabilities of its “Autopilot” system and raises questions about the safety of autonomous vehicles.

Sanguinetti is a member of a team of attorneys attempting to hold Tesla accountable in several self-driving cases.

“We are seeing a greater emphasis on self-driving vehicles,” she said. “While we know how important it is to battle climate change, emerging technologies must be safe for consumers. The auto industry, Elon Musk and most of Silicon Valley are pushing forward with autonomous vehicles, but again we’ve seen these billion-dollar entities ignore public safety with deadly consequences. The state and likely the federal government will have to continue to regulate AV’s, and plaintiff attorneys will likely see many more catastrophic injury cases involving Teslas over these safety issues.”

In another matter, Sanguinetti represented the family of a woman who died in Monterey County Jail. Villarreal v. County of Monterey, 16-CV-06672- LHK (N.D. Cal., filed Nov. 17, 2016).

The lawsuit focused on the jail’s failure to provide necessary medical care and basic amenities, leading to the woman’s death from a urinary tract infection. The case was settled for $825,000 and highlights the issues within the jail system, particularly regarding inmate care and safety.

“Litigating against any municipality is a long, drawn-out process,” she said. “All of the information necessary to pursue these cases is controlled by the jails and private jail contractors. Seeking and obtaining the full amount of information needed to prosecute these cases often requires court orders before they hand over the needed discovery, making these cases. Even when a judge scolded the jail after a scathing report was issued on the abuses there, Monterey County Jail is still doing little to nothing to solve this problem.”