Tesla Is Seeking $167 Million From Former Employee Accused of Sabotage (cnbc.com) 90
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: Tesla is seeking more than $167 million in a lawsuit against former employee Martin Tripp, recent legal filings revealed. In the lawsuit, which was filed by the electric car maker in June, Tesla alleges that Tripp, a former process engineer, had illegally exported data and made false claims to reporters, among other things. Tripp had earlier claimed in a number of press interviews that Tesla engaged in poor manufacturing practices at its massive battery plant outside of Reno, Nevada, and that it may have used damaged battery modules in its Model 3 vehicles, posing a risk to drivers.
An interim case management report published on Nov. 27 reveals that Tripp's attorneys aim to depose Tesla CEO Elon Musk and more than 10 people involved with the company. Tesla has refused to make Musk available and sought to limit the number of people deposed by Tripp's defense team at the law firm Tiffany & Bosco. Tripp's lawyers wrote in that report: "Tesla has objected to Mr. Tripp's desire to take more than ten depositions... In this case, where Mr. Tripp is being sued for more than $167,000,000 and has asserted counterclaims against Tesla, more than ten depositions is certainly reasonable and appropriate." Tripp attorney Robert D. Mitchell said in an email to CNBC: "The purported damage amount claimed by Tesla relates to supposed dips in Tesla's stock price by virtue of the information Mr. Tripp provided to the press last summer." He characterized the damage claims as "absurd."
An interim case management report published on Nov. 27 reveals that Tripp's attorneys aim to depose Tesla CEO Elon Musk and more than 10 people involved with the company. Tesla has refused to make Musk available and sought to limit the number of people deposed by Tripp's defense team at the law firm Tiffany & Bosco. Tripp's lawyers wrote in that report: "Tesla has objected to Mr. Tripp's desire to take more than ten depositions... In this case, where Mr. Tripp is being sued for more than $167,000,000 and has asserted counterclaims against Tesla, more than ten depositions is certainly reasonable and appropriate." Tripp attorney Robert D. Mitchell said in an email to CNBC: "The purported damage amount claimed by Tesla relates to supposed dips in Tesla's stock price by virtue of the information Mr. Tripp provided to the press last summer." He characterized the damage claims as "absurd."
Not a smart move by Tesla (Score:5, Insightful)
What's to prevent Elon being sued for the amount he caused the stock to drop with his brain farts about "funding secured" that triggered the SEC going after him?
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"but the tweet was obviously not serious and had no real world practicality"
Because they have to prove their case doesn't mean that's it's not true.
And just because you said that (Score:1)
doesn't make you right. Funny, innit, how just because you haven't denied running a child porn ring doesn't mean you're not guilty, and any wild ass claim can, until it is proven wrong, can be supported by the same BS codswallop.
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"And just because you said that doesn't make you right."
Of course.
It's true whether I said it or not.
Not sure what the rest of your comment means in this comment thread.
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They did prove it.
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The court that approved the settlement retard.
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All it means is he settled. No guild or innocence has been tried, nor even attempted to be tried.
People who believe they're innocent and can afford top notch legal representation do NOT settle
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When I woke up this morning I saw this as a suggested article and misread it, thinking they WERE suing Musk.
Re: Not a smart move by Tesla (Score:2)
I was just sort of buying and selling Tesla for a while...
So you were thinking about it.
Re:Not a smart move by Tesla (Score:4, Informative)
The SEC settlement included compensation for people who lost money due to his tweets. I guess you need to contact the SEC for your cut, rather than having to sue Tesla yourself.
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That matter is not within the scope of the lawsuit and is irrelevant. Depositions are not a fishing trip. Lawyers are present and can object when questions go off topic.
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Nothing prevents anyone from being sued. Things only prevent them from winning. These things include the incredibly high bar required for investors to sue companies, and also the fact that his brain fart caused the price to spike up instead of down.
The volatility of stock markets works against the people making these claims.
And in 'bailing attorneys' news: (Score:5, Informative)
From the article:
Meissner was warned repeatedly that his client was A) out of control, and B) a pathological liar. He appears to have come to the same conclusion.
His client has also apparently fled to Hungary [twimg.com], so then there's that.
Re:And in 'bailing attorneys' news: (Score:4, Interesting)
Oh, and the point of a large figure (which Tripp obviously can't pay) has nothing to do with Tripp himself. The fun part will be discovery. Because anyone who might have been involved in telling him what data to get or otherwise communicating with him during the theft (Linette Lopez, I'm looking at you) would be soliciting a crime. Like, for example:
Peavy v. WFAA-TV Inc.: The media outlet was approached by an informant claiming that he had information about a local news issue. The media outlet refused to use the information without further documentation, encouraged the informant to obtain that, and advised him on the process (which amounted to an illegal wiretapping). The media outlet was found to have advised and encouraged the illegal acquisition of materials, which it then took possession of and published. The court characterized this as “undisputed participation.” The informant and the media outlet were found to be liable for the illegal acquisition.
Business Insider was valued at nearly $400M in 2015. If Linette was found to have been involved in the acquisition in any way - or in general failed any of the Bartnicki v. Vopper criteria:
1) The media outlet played no role in the illegal interception
2) The media received the information lawfully
3) The issue was a matter of public concern
Then they're criminally liable for the theft. And BI can't classify it as the actions of a "rogue employee", because when challenged earlier on the theft, BI came to Lopez's defense.
Also to watch out for:
* People who took a short position in TSLA after learning of the story before it was published
* People who already held a short position in TSLA who were involved in the chain of command on any decisions to work with Tripp and to publish
As I mentioned... discovery on this case is going to be loads of fun :) Especially because Tripp has so far proven so wreckless with how he's handled himself in this case (including posting a bunch of self-incriminating tweets - about revenge against Elon, claiming he doesn't know how to program, trying to hide his adafruit, scribd and stackoverflow accounts and then making hilariously bad excuses as for why he did so, chatting with famous Tesla shorts, etc - and then deleting them, as if they'd just disappear from the face of the Earth).
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Oh, and fun fact about Business Insider [wikipedia.org]:
Pull on the thread....
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Huh? The Model 3 is the best-selling EV by an order of magnitude in the US. How does the best-selling EV - one of the best-selling cars, period in the US - "not exist"? Or are you talking about the base model? Why exactly should they be focusing on the cheapest versions when they're selling every single higher-margin car they can get off the line?
As of several weeks ago - before the most recent set of upgrades to increase production capacity (which generally comes hand-in-hand with improved margins, as i
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The model 3 is universally regarded a shit car.
Sandy Munro has had a change of opinion since tearing down another Model 3
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No he hasn’t. He said the electrons were ok the rest of the car was complete shit.
On a followup interview on Autoline, he said he could see the car getting up to 30% profit margin in quantity and that he would be eating a lot of crow
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So what you are saying is that the promised $35k Model 3 is vapour, and that Tesla can't yet manufacture it for $35k let alone sell it for that much including tax, and that they are still looking at shaving many thousands off the cost before they can even think about it.
The Model 3 is a nice car, but it's not cheap and people wanting the $35k version will be waiting a long time, maybe forever if they cancel it. I think cancellation is more likely, because by the time they do release it there will be several
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Seriously? Have you been living under a rock?
Here, let me spoon-feed you.
In terms of revenue, the Tesla Model 3 was the best selling car in the USA in September, by a wide margin. It pulled in nearly twice as much money as the second-best car, the Toyota Camry.
Tesla Model 3 Is Best Selling Car In USA In Terms Of Revenue [cleantechnica.com]
It was the fourth best selling
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What's your excuse going to be in three years when Tesla starts selling a pickup truck, and it outsells the F-series?
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Wall Street disagrees with you. TSLA keeps rising, while macros keep falling.
How are your investments looking these past few months? Odds are, pretty bloody terrible. Mine are doing amazing.
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Thats the problem with individuals investing. They think they know what is going on.
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You're saying that you invested in Valeant in 2016? Or are you engaging in the fallacy of "because I disagree with Wall Street's consensus, Wall Street must be wrong"? If so... I strongly, strongly encourage you to short Tesla!
FYI, the guy who launched the short campaign against Valeant back in 2016? Andrew Left, of Citron Research? He switched teams. He's now long TSLA. ;) [cnbc.com]
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Aww, come on, join the TSLAQ party [twitter.com]! Margin calls are fun.
And you seem to have trouble accepting that I was correct about everything I wrote about the company this summer - production growth, margin growth, limited increases in SG&A, no need for a new equity round, etc, etc - and earned a mint because of that. Sorry, but there were two sides to this story this summer, and my side won. Being right about your research on a company and marketplace has positive consequences. Being wrong has negative consequ
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If it was SpaceX, it would be true; we only know what they tell us, because it is a private business.
Tesla is not a private business. The knowledge another person you're talking to has is limited only by their interest and willingness to dig into filings and conference calls. It is a public company, after all, not a private one.
You've got all those 1's and 0's in your username to virtue signal that you're a nerd, why is it that you're having so much trouble with basic categorization and identity?
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Did you know most people convicted of felonies are Democrats?
That's because poor people get convicted. Rich shits (i.e. Republicans) can afford to evade justice.
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Damn. This is what obsession looks like, folks.
Says someone who has a canned post accusing me of faking my tesla car ownership, and posts it obsessively. It takes a maniac to recognize a fellow maniac, I suppose.
But to give credit where it is due, this guy stopped posting it under his handle and switched to anonymous coward after I said a few nice words about him in some thread.
I agree with many of his modded up postings. It is unfortunate, he likes to post far too many snarky one liners.
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The fun part will be discovery. Because anyone who might have been involved in telling him what data to get or otherwise communicating with him during the theft (Linette Lopez, I'm looking at you) would be soliciting a crime.
IANAL but I don't think that's how it works. Reporters are exempt from laws barring the solicitation of secret information under the First Amendment. This was actually a big issue during the Obama Administration. [wikipedia.org]
Making false statements about another person's character is a different matter. That is libel, [wikipedia.org] and you can be sued for it if it damages another individual or company financially.
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'Reporters' have no special privileges in the USA.
You're a reporter, I'm a reporter, we're all reporters.
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'Reporters' have no special privileges in the USA.
You're a reporter, I'm a reporter, we're all reporters.
Only since 2014. [theatlantic.com] Now everyone who posts on the internet is considered a journalist.
Perhaps Tripp would have been better off blogging about his experience at Tesla, instead of working with traditional me
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It was always true, it's been settled law since 2014.
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Elon is a deca billionaire or a centi trillionaire, with millions of followers. It gives him some clout to by pass the media and explain his side of the story. In addition to defenders like you and I. That Tripp guy, whatever his misdeeds were, is incapable of mounting a credible defense.
If there are behind the scenes negotiations to drop the suit in exchange for full cooperation, and if there were behind the scenes actors who instigated him to act and then quietly d
Or Musk is the liar (Score:1)
The problem with the claim, is Musk.
A long history of making conspiracy attacks against enemies (New York Times, Top Gear, that cave rescuer he called a pedo, lots of lies about Tesla going private and an SEC settlement), and they don't want Musk deposed which is hardly a good sign.
Plus Tripps comments were all but confirmed by Tesla itself, I recall he complained the battery cases were often left touching as glue was omitted, and their response that the batteries are likely at similar voltages and so its n
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Please disregard this notice if you have already complied with the requirement.
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Then, WHY? Some mid-level engineer would be bankrupted for $100k or severely hurt in Small Claims court. Heck, just defending the claim will likely be enough to bankrupt the guy in legal bills alone. We all get it, this guy cost them a pile of dough. What's a lawsuit going to get Tesla? If they get a $1M judgment, what's the point? All you are likely to collect is the cash in his bank accounts which is what? $10K? if that.
I say this is just beating a dead horse for PR value. Shame on Tesla.
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Don't be a dunderhead. Small Claims has a $10k limit. It doesn't actually matter how much you write down in the suit; if you win you'll normally be awarded the amount that the court determined you proved you lost, which is supposed to match your filing.
If you file in small claims that you were harmed for $10k, and your evidence says you were harmed for millions of dollars, you might just get in trouble, not get the $10k. You'd have to be arguing that you can only prove $10k of the losses.
You're supposed to
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If you get a civil judgment you cannot pay, your choices are to either make payments or go bankrupt which cancels out any civil judgments. What would YOU choose?
I was sued once by a former employer and my lawyer explained to me what they could force me to give them if they won the judgment. They couldn't take my house, my car my retirement, but only things I owned beyond that. Given I didn't have a 2nd car, house, any cash or other fungible assets I asked him what they could collect? He said "Nothing."
Sabotage??? (Score:2, Insightful)
Not sure how allegedly stealing data and talking to the press is sabotage???
sabotage /sabtäZH/
verb
verb: sabotage; 3rd person present: sabotages; past tense: sabotaged; past participle: sabotaged; gerund or present participle: sabotaging
1.
deliberately destroy, damage, or obstruct (something), especially for political or military advantage.
synonyms: vandalize, wreck, damage, destroy, cripple, impair, incapacitate
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Lay (CEO of Enron) told Enron employees in October 2001 that Enron was under attack by short-sellers "just like America's under attack by terrorism." Lay's lawyer, Michael Ramsey, had referred to the short- sellers as "vultures."
Musk: "The last several years have taught me that short-sellers are indeed reasonably maligned. What they do should be illegal.”
Be very wary of any executive who hates short sellers. Short selle
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I agree if the short sellers have analyzed the company, believe they are overvalued, and passively short sell. That is important in creating liquidity in the market. Where this crosses the line is with short sellers that attempt to manipulate the stock price to increase their rate of return. The latter is incredibly damaging. They make the company respond with (often long-term damaging) short term measures instead of operating strategically. It is
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Yawn (Score:2)
I can't stand it. I know you planned it. (Score:1)
Beastie Boys (Score:2)