Lots of things are defamation that aren't even illegal. Telling people you did that one bad thing in high school is legally defamatory, but it's not actionable

Lots of things are defamation that aren't even illegal. Telling people you did that one bad thing in high school is legally defamatory, but it's not actionable unless it's false. "Provably false statements of fact," also known as "making shit up," is where people get in trouble, and where court cases start to get easy. I imagine Elon will be spinning hard to settle this...eventually. Not before his ego is suppressed, though, and that might get noisy. He's like Trump that way: nobody can tell him anything, he's Mr. Awesome. With any justice, the plaintiff won't entertain any settlement talks and go for the jury verdict.