Photo: Yahoo Finance/National Geographic/edited by autoevolution
When Tesla faces a second jury trial against Owen Diaz, it will not get to deny the racist environment African American workers face in Fremont: that was already proven by the former judgment. All Tesla may try to escape is another record-breaking punitive damage. The company was ordered to pay $136.9 million in the previous trial. Something similar is happening with the lawsuit Elon Musk is facing due to his tweets on taking Tesla private.
In April 2022, District Court Judge Edward M. Chen ruled that the tweet in which the Tesla CEO said he was considering taking Tesla private was false and reckless. The trial to decide if that was a security fraud is currently happening in California, but the investors’ lawyer was not happy with Musk’s defense strategy.
According to Bloomberg, they filed an emergency court filing asking the judge to warn the jury about what he decided Musk’s tweets were. If Chen accepts to do that, it will be the third time the judge warned the jury that the starting point for their decision is this: the Tesla CEO’s tweets were false and reckless.
Chen's decision stated that the court “held that he (Musk) recklessly made the statements with knowledge as to their falsity.” The investors’ attorneys wrote that “on no less than ten occasions, Mr. Musk testified to the accuracy and truthfulness of the ‘funding secured’ tweets. Moreover, even though this court already held Mr. Musk acted with recklessness, he testified that his intentions were pure.” For them, Musk and his lawyers have tried to confuse the jury with that strategy because that is no longer under discussion.
The central “prayer for relief” in this lawsuit requires “defendants to pay damages sustained by Plaintiff and the Class by reason of the acts and transactions alleged herein.” In other words, the discussion seems to be very similar to the one the jury for the Owen Diaz lawsuit will have: how much money Musk and the other defendants in the case will have to disburse to compensate anyone who bought Tesla shares and faced losses due to Musk’s tweets. That’s why the petition also asked for the lawsuit to be a class action.
If the judge already ruled that the tweets were false and reckless, we must learn for sure what are the next steps in this lawsuit. Considering it does not seem to have any criminal implications, determining if it was a security fraud or not does not seem to be crucial unless that helps to determine the fair compensation for stockholders affected by the Tesla CEO’s tweets. Only a lawyer could answer our questions at this point, and we will try to talk to one who is familiar with the whole lawsuit. If you happen to know the following steps, feel free to share that with us in the comments section below.
According to Bloomberg, they filed an emergency court filing asking the judge to warn the jury about what he decided Musk’s tweets were. If Chen accepts to do that, it will be the third time the judge warned the jury that the starting point for their decision is this: the Tesla CEO’s tweets were false and reckless.
Chen's decision stated that the court “held that he (Musk) recklessly made the statements with knowledge as to their falsity.” The investors’ attorneys wrote that “on no less than ten occasions, Mr. Musk testified to the accuracy and truthfulness of the ‘funding secured’ tweets. Moreover, even though this court already held Mr. Musk acted with recklessness, he testified that his intentions were pure.” For them, Musk and his lawyers have tried to confuse the jury with that strategy because that is no longer under discussion.
The central “prayer for relief” in this lawsuit requires “defendants to pay damages sustained by Plaintiff and the Class by reason of the acts and transactions alleged herein.” In other words, the discussion seems to be very similar to the one the jury for the Owen Diaz lawsuit will have: how much money Musk and the other defendants in the case will have to disburse to compensate anyone who bought Tesla shares and faced losses due to Musk’s tweets. That’s why the petition also asked for the lawsuit to be a class action.
If the judge already ruled that the tweets were false and reckless, we must learn for sure what are the next steps in this lawsuit. Considering it does not seem to have any criminal implications, determining if it was a security fraud or not does not seem to be crucial unless that helps to determine the fair compensation for stockholders affected by the Tesla CEO’s tweets. Only a lawyer could answer our questions at this point, and we will try to talk to one who is familiar with the whole lawsuit. If you happen to know the following steps, feel free to share that with us in the comments section below.
Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.
— Mr. Tweet (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018
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