A Miami jury directed Elon Musk’s car company on Friday to compensate $329 million to victims of a fatal crash involving its Autopilot driver-assist feature. This ruling may pave the way for additional expensive lawsuits and could potentially damage Tesla’s reputation for safety during a critical period for the firm.

The federal jury determined that Tesla held considerable responsibility for the incident due to its technological failure, indicating that not all accountability lies with the reckless driver. The driver himself confessed to being distracted by his cell phone prior to crashing into a young couple who were stargazing.

This verdict arrives as Musk attempts to persuade Americans of the safety of his cars operating autonomously, with plans to introduce a driverless taxi service in various cities in the coming months.

The decision ends a four-year long case remarkable not just in its outcome but that it even made it to trial. Many similar cases against Tesla have been dismissed and, when that didn’t happen, settled by the company to avoid the spotlight of a trial.

“This will open the floodgates,” said Miguel Custodio, a car crash lawyer not involved in the Tesla case. “It will embolden a lot of people to come to court.”

The case also included startling charges by lawyers for the family of the deceased, 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon, and for her injured boyfriend, Dillon Angulo. They claimed Tesla either hid or lost key evidence, including data and video recorded seconds before the accident.

Tesla has previously faced criticism that it is slow to cough up crucial data by relatives of other victims in Tesla crashes, accusations that the car company has denied.

In this case, the plaintiffs showed Tesla had the evidence all along, despite its repeated denials, by hiring a forensic data expert who dug it up. Tesla said it made a mistake after being shown the evidence and honestly hadn’t thought it was there.

It’s not clear how much of a hit to Tesla’s reputation for safety the verdict in the Miami case will make. Tesla has vastly improved its technology since the crash on a dark, rural road in Key Largo, Florida, in 2019.