Tesla Wins In Ruling Vs Ex-Employee

In the latest turn in a protracted legal battle, being covered in a series of articles from Ars Technica, a federal judge dismissed a defamation claim by a former Tesla employee, while at the same time allowing Tesla’s trade secrets and breach of contract claims against the ex-employee to proceed. The ex-employee, whom Tesla CEO Elon Musk called a “horrible human being” in the course of a testy email exchange the two had during an earlier stage of the proceeding, had told media outlets that Tesla was wasting huge amounts of materials and making exaggerated claims about the progress of its Model 3. The ex-employee had filed the defamation counter-claim after Tesla called authorities, responding to what proved to be a bogus warning that he was heavily armed and was going to “shoot up” the place.