7 ms·
Tesla sues its alleged saboteur for $167M
- jsight 8y agoI've wondered for a bit as to why they chose such an unrealistic number. Maybe because they knew this would bait the media into reporting on it again, now that his "whistleblower" case has effectively fallen apart?
- hockeybias 8y agoHow is the number unrealistic? thanks
- amingilani 8y agoI'm inclined to agree with you. There's literally no new information in this article except that new number.
- sgc 8y agoPartially, but also just to indicate what they perceive to be the real damage from his actions, so that in the future people can evaluate if their personal vendettas are worth the harm they cause. (Of course I see the irony given recent history at the company, but future deterrence is a large motivator for many lawsuits).
- nitrogen 8y agoIsn't the use of a lawsuit to deter speaking out illegal (SLAPP)?
- vinceguidry 8y agoAnti-SLAPP laws generally allow for quick dismissal of lawsuits that fit the criteria. They don't lay out any criminal penalties for doing so. Also, not every state has an anti-SLAPP statute.
- hirundo 8y agoAs Stormy Daniels recently discovered the non criminal penalties can be significant.
- SpicyLemonZest 8y agoThis is a federal case, and there's no federal anti-SLAPP law. Even in states which have anti-SLAPP laws, they target frivolous lawsuits to deter speaking out. If you really do have a case, but part of your motivation for bringing it is to deter future misconduct, that's perfectly kosher.
- gamblor956 8y agoAnti-SLAPP law in California is not limited to frivolous lawsuits... The whole point of the Anti-SLAPP statutes is to discourage companies from using lawsuits to "deter future misconduct." It provides, at a minimum, that the company pay all the defendant's legal costs and the complete dismissal of the company's case with prejudice (which usually means all of the related claims filed in the same lawsuit, though on rare occasions the company may be allowed to split off those claims into a separate case).
- SpicyLemonZest 8y agoAs long as the plaintiff can establish "there is a probability that the plaintiff will prevail on the claim", the anti-SLAPP statue doesn't apply. It doesn't matter at that point why they filed the lawsuit.
- gamblor956 8y agoRight, the plaintiff needs to show prima facie evidence of all elements of their claims in order to defeat an Anti-SLAPP motion. Unless Tesla has been concealing some facts in its court filings, they don't have prima facie evidence of all elements of their claims. Anti-SLAPP motions can precede the discovery phase, i.e., before Tesla can acquire that evidence. Moreover, unlike TV, such evidence must be presented in court filings. Ambush disclosures aren't a thing in real life.
- throwaway98434 8y agoNo. SLAPP statutes protect against frivolous lawsuits. If someone is sued over sharing an opinion, SLAPP might provide a quick way to demonstrate that the opinion is protected speech and that the suit is unwinnable. Generally, SLAPP aims to easily dismiss suits without merit. This is not a frivolous lawsuit and is not without merit.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- adonnjohn 8y agoCould you elaborate a bit on the whistleblower stuff falling apart?
- eduah 8y agoHis lawyers have abandoned him and he is now defending himself on the supposed whistleblower case.
- InTheArena 8y agoThat’s going to be a interesting story given the last time they talked, they were accusing the police and Tesla of planning to “swatt” Tripp by reporting a anonymous report that Tripp was planning violence.
- random314 8y agoYou are responding to a Tesla shill account. I can't find any information corroborating what this person is claiming about Tripps attorneys.
- eduah 8y ago> Tripp was represented by Meissner Associates in the whistleblower matter earlier, but is now representing himself, attorney Stuart Meissner told CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/11/tesla-seeks-167-million-in-damages-from-ex-employee-martin-tripp.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/11/tesla-seeks-167-million-in-d...
- random314 8y agoThis link contradicts what you are saying https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.zdnet.com/google-amp/article/tesla-is-suing-martin-tripp-alleged-saboteur-for-167-million/&ved=2ahUKEwjTl72hiJzfAhWMFXwKHc2YBy8QFjAKegQICRAB&usg=AOvVaw3TKkeW4E-2VzfSHFFiHnur&cf=1 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...
- twblalock 8y ago> I've wondered for a bit as to why they chose such an unrealistic number. If I wanted to win N dollars in a lawsuit I would start by asking for some multiple of N. I would probably get what I wanted if the defense convinces the judge or jury to reduce the damages or tries to negotiate a settlement. Especially in the case of negotiating a settlement, if you start by asking for exactly what you want you'll get less than that.
- hornbaker 8y agoSurprised he didn’t ask for $420M.
- onetimemanytime 8y agoThis is academic, I seriously doubt he has $167 Million. Tesla just wants to ruin him for obvious reasons (deterrence, payback, send a message)
- btian 8y agoIt's not unrealistic that his conducts did $167M worth of damages. Obviously Tesla won't be able to recover that much from him, but that happens after the judgement.
- Simulacra 8y agoI don't think it's an unrealistic number. The guy hacked the system and downloaded information, distributing that which caused the stock price to dip. Tesla has a definitive loss. What that exact number is could be up to debate, but just because the defendant is a person instead of a company does not diminish the level of damage done to Tesla.
- rtkwe 8y agoIs saboteur really the right word for that though? Maybe it's just the association I've made but that to me denotes something much more active and directly damaging than just leaking damaging information.
- eduah 8y agoThat's literally the accusation, that he doctored information he then gave to jurnalist to harm the company
- rtkwe 8y agoNot what I meant, I mean actually damaging something not just reputation or stock price. Even just deleting some critical file that had to be restored from a backup but just releasing information about the company doesn't fit my mental model of sabotage.
- bildung 8y ago> distributing that which caused the stock price to dip. Tesla has a definitive loss. How did a stock price dip cause a loss to Tesla?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- thebluehawk 8y agoFor starters, it affects how easily they could raise cash by borrowing money, during a time when they desperately needed capitol.
- woodandsteel 8y agoI think Tesla is suing Mills for several reasons. One is to discourage activity it thinks is sabotage and slander. Secondly it wants to do discovery to discover if he was working for someone who wanted to undermine Tesla, like a stock shorter or a fossil fuel or automotive company, who it would then sue next. And I am guessing it is also a preparation for another suit against the sleazy media company that published his claims, again to see if one of the above enemies was behind it. As for the $167 million claim, the idea is not to get the money from Mills, which Tesla is perfectly aware is impossible. Rather it is to set the value for a later lawsuit, and also to let people know it is serious about defending itself.
- DoubleCribble 8y agoWhat did he whistleblow on exactly? That car manufacturing is dirty? That parts of the vehicle get dinged & scratched and are still used? What is the revelation here?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- NullPrefix 8y agoDid he actually whistleblow? Whistleblowers leak either to general public or regulators. From the article it sounds like the data went to some private 3rd party. Correct me if I'm wrong.
- DoubleCribble 8y agoTripp filed a whistleblower lawsuit with the SEC as part of his publicity campaign. It's mentioned in the linked article about the tweets.[0] [0]https://www.engadget.com/2018/08/15/martin-tripp-tesla-tweets/ https://www.engadget.com/2018/08/15/martin-tripp-tesla-tweet...
- rightbyte 8y ago"The former employee, who used to work as a process engineer at Tesla's Gigafactory, filed a complaint of his own with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June. He accused Tesla of making 'material omissions and misstatements' to investors as well as of putting cars with safety issues on the road." He did whistle-blow according to the article. According to another article he denies dumping data. https://www.engadget.com/2018/08/15/martin-tripp-tesla-tweets/ https://www.engadget.com/2018/08/15/martin-tripp-tesla-tweet...
- eduah 8y agoHis own lawyers have abandoned him on these claims and he is now having to represent himself in the whistle blower case
- 8y ago
- leowoo91 8y agoWho would be best to track such incidents within the company? IT department or SecOps?
- wil421 8y agoThe security group should respond and manage the incident while working with their IT counterparts to fix the systems that were exposed.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- sytelus 8y agoMusk/Tripp email exchanges: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/06/21/saboteur-or-whistleblower-battle-between-elon-musk-and-former-tesla-employee-turns-ugly-exposing-internal-rancor/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/06/21...