Tesla Is Seeking $167 Million In Damages From A Former Employee

In an ongoing lawsuit, Tesla is suing a former employee for a vast sum of money over claims that he stole confidential photos and lied about the company fitting damaged batteries
Tesla Is Seeking $167 Million In Damages From A Former Employee

Tesla is suing a former employee for $167 million (£132.5 million) over allegations that he stole confidential photographs and trade secrets earlier this year.

Martin Tripp is also accused of making false claims about Tesla’s working practices, namely that the company knowingly fitted punctured batteries to early Model 3 saloons and has elsewhere sold ‘unsafe’ cars.

Tesla Is Seeking $167 Million In Damages From A Former Employee

Tripp isn’t the first ex-Tesla employee to hit out at Tesla for alleged sub-standard activity on the production line. Former regional manager Adam Williams has also sued the company, claiming that Tesla sold defective cars – a claim denied by Tesla – before firing him for going to bosses about it.

The vast amount of damages sought from Tripp is, says Tesla, a reflection not just of the scale of the accusation but also the actual damage done to Tesla’s share price in the wake of his allegations. Quite how they expect him to pay it if they win is another question.

Tesla Is Seeking $167 Million In Damages From A Former Employee

Tesla’s lawsuit claims that Tripp tried to recruit other Tesla staff to work against the company and that his assertions about the way cars are built by the firm are false. Tesla claims that Tripp started a vendetta against the brand after being passed over for a promotion at the Gigafactory.

Meanwhile, Tripp’s counter-suit is trying to force 10 employees, including Elon Musk, to testify in court. Tesla is fighting on both counts and trying to limit the number of employees that have to speak.

Source: Motor Authority

Sponsored Posts

Comments

Chewbacca_buddy (McLaren squad)(VW GTI Clubsport)(McLaren 60

Oof

12/14/2018 - 11:14 |
11 | 1
BenPaye(JDMSquad)(MX5Squad)(LFAsquad)(Subie Squad) (Rotary F

In reply to by Chewbacca_budd…

Ah you beat me to it

12/14/2018 - 11:29 |
2 | 0
Tomislav Celić

Big oof

12/14/2018 - 11:33 |
3 | 1
AAA Insurance

oh fugging shidd, that’s epic 😎👌 that employee OWNED elon “poopy bad man” musk 😂😤👏🔥🔥🔥

12/14/2018 - 11:38 |
5 | 16

wow you are so epic 😎 let’s have the secks 💋

12/14/2018 - 11:40 |
4 | 10
Jeremy S.

Lawsuits? sounds like another company…

12/14/2018 - 12:21 |
8 | 0
CannedRex24

To be fair, Tesla needs to win this suit.
Its unfair for the company to be treated unfair like that.

And leaking private data?
Yeah that’s many many years in the Gaul

12/14/2018 - 13:45 |
4 | 6

My issue is the dollar figure. No former-employee could possibly repay that in twenty lifetimes… it may correlate with stock damages but he’s not the lone cause of the decline to say the least. Not only that, but Tesla’s stock price has recovered 116 USD/share since the lowest point in October to only 20 dollars from its peak this year. This to me just seems like an excuse (albeit a reasonable one) to rake in a huge dollar figure at once.

12/14/2018 - 14:39 |
2 | 3

In gaul? Did I take a time machine back to the second century or something?

12/17/2018 - 16:50 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Sounds like a punitive figure, I doubt they even expect to receive 1% of that number but if they won it should put fear into anyone planning a similar attack.

12/14/2018 - 22:01 |
3 | 0
Anonymous

Elon Musk should just stick to making rockets that can land, that is genuinely cool stuff, his cars however are not.

12/14/2018 - 23:32 |
3 | 3
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

No, clearly not. That is why they can’t keep up with demand.

12/17/2018 - 13:44 |
1 | 0
Anonymous

Some people get so butthurt and salty, I think the sum is vastly excessive and will never be granted but what the employee did obviously was malicious.

12/15/2018 - 01:24 |
1 | 0
Dave 12

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Unless it was true…

12/17/2018 - 16:49 |
0 | 0