The verdict came after a week-long retrial in the 2017 lawsuit by plaintiff Owen Diaz, who in 2021 was awarded US$137 million by a different jury. A judge agreed with that jury that Tesla was liable but said the award was excessive. He ordered a new trial on damages after Diaz declined the reduced US$15 million award.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a tweet said "the verdict would've been zero" if the judge had allowed the company to introduce new evidence in the retrial.The company has said it does not tolerate workplace discrimination and takes worker complaints seriously. Tesla's lawyer, Alex Spiro, countered that Diaz was a confrontational worker who had exaggerated his claims of emotional distress, and said his lawyers failed to show any serious, long-lasting damage caused by Tesla.Lawyers for Diaz did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the verdict.The verdict was surprisingly low considering the egregious conduct for which Tesla was found liable, said Ryan Saba, a Los Angeles-based employment lawyer who was not involved in the case.
The EV maker is facing similar claims of tolerating race discrimination at the Fremont plant and other workplaces in a pending class action by Black workers, a separate case from a California civil rights agency, and multiple cases involving individual workers. The company has denied wrongdoing in those cases.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick last year agreed with the jury that Tesla had broken the law, but said the award was excessive and cut it to US$15 million.
This makes it sound like his job title is “ex-worker” Especially damaging to a black man
'far less than the US$15 million he rejected last year in opting for a new trial.' 🤣
Nice
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