Musk says he can’t get honest trial in California, needs Texas

Elon Musk has urged a federal decide to shift a trial in a shareholder lawsuit to the federal court docket within the western district of Texas.

Washington,UPDATED: Jan 8, 2023 12:22 IST

Elon Musk’s attorneys urged a federal decide to shift a trial in a Twitter shareholder lawsuit out of San Francisco and right into a court docket in Texas. (Reuters picture)

By Associated Press: Elon Musk has urged a federal decide to shift a trial in a shareholder lawsuit out of San Francisco as a result of he says damaging native media protection has biased potential jurors in opposition to him.

Instead, in a submitting submitted late Friday — lower than two weeks earlier than the trial was set to start on Jan. 17 — Musk’s attorneys argue it ought to be moved to the federal court docket within the western district of Texas. That district consists of the state capital of Austin, which is the place Musk relocated his electrical automotive firm, Tesla, in late 2021.

The shareholder lawsuit stems from Musk’s tweets in August 2018 when he mentioned he had adequate financing to take Tesla personal at $420 a share — an announcement that brought about heavy volatility in Tesla’s share worth.

READ: Court informed Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay wasn’t for punching a clock

In a victory for the shareholders final spring, Judge Edward Chen dominated that Musk’s tweets have been false and reckless.

If transferring the trial isn’t potential, Musk’s attorneys need it postponed till damaging publicity relating to the billionaire’s buy of Twitter has died down.

“For the last several months, the local media have saturated this district with biased and negative stories about Mr. Musk,” legal professional Alex Spiro wrote in a court docket submitting. Those information objects have personally blamed Musk for current layoffs at Twitter, Spiro wrote, and have charged that the job cuts might have even violated legal guidelines.

The shareholders’ attorneys emphasised the last-minute timing of the request, saying, “Musk’s concerns are unfounded and his motion is meritless.”

“The Northern District of California is the proper venue for this lawsuit and where it has been actively litigated for over four years,” legal professional Nicholas Porritt wrote in an electronic mail.

READ: Don’t need to be CEO of any firm: Elon Musk in US court docket

The submitting by Musk’s attorneys additionally notes that Twitter has laid off about 1,000 residents within the San Francisco space since he bought the corporate in late October.

“A substantial portion of the jury pool … is likely to hold a personal and material bias against Mr. Musk as a result of recent layoffs at one of his companies as individual prospective jurors — or their friends and relatives — may have been personally impacted,” the submitting mentioned.

Musk has additionally been criticized by San Francisco’s mayor and different native officers for the job cuts, the submitting mentioned.

READ: Heavy metallic drummer takes Elon Musk to court docket over $56 billion Tesla payout

Published On:

Jan 8, 2023