Tesla Faces U.S. Criminal Probe Over Musk Statements

Re:Tesla Faces U.S. Criminal Probe Over Musk Statements by onetimemanytime on Tuesday September 18, 2018 @02:12PM (#18017724)

This lawsuit is peanuts to Musk, money wise. Say he settles it for $20 million, that's nothing. And maybe Musk hires dozens of detectives that find out later that Unsworth went with underage girls (a lot of Europeans with some money do over there.) Still it's very petty of Musk to pick a public fight with a "commoner"

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tesla Faces U.S. Criminal Probe Over Musk Statements by danso on Tuesday September 18, 2018 @02:44PM (#18017994)

He wouldn’t settle it for $20M because libel damages aren’t capped at ~$400K in the UK. It doesn’t take “dozens of detectives” to undermine Unsworth’s story, but Musk has not yet managed to show anything, not even a FB or forum post, that would contradict Unsworth’s assertion of when he first visited Thailand.

The stereotype of white men going to Thailand for sex tourism isn’t proof. And to think it is evidence is incredibly ironic, because Unsworth, besides being the resident expert of the cave’s geography, reportedly had to push hard for Thai authorities to take his advice to bring in his British expert diver friends who ended up conducting the rescue.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tesla Faces U.S. Criminal Probe Over Musk Statements by onetimemanytime on Tuesday September 18, 2018 @03:09PM (#18018204)

My point was that even if true (what Musk said) he showed his pettiness in getting involved with someone that criticized him. As for the libel amount in USA, there's a limit too. Even if the jury goes haywire judges and appeal courts intervene.

As for the truth...we don't really know until there's discovery

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tesla Faces U.S. Criminal Probe Over Musk Statements by gamblor956 on Tuesday September 18, 2018 @03:19PM (#18018282)

There's no statutory limit on damages for defamation per se under California law. It's literally whatever the jury decides is appropriate, modified by what the judge thinks is reasonable.

EDIT: added the "per se" since regular defamation requires proof of damages but the per se form does not.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tesla Faces U.S. Criminal Probe Over Musk Statements by onetimemanytime on Tuesday September 18, 2018 @05:13PM (#18019186)

But in reality there is a limit. The jury can say $2 Trillion. What is the largest award ever that made it past appeals? Being called a pedophile publicly by Elon Musk is as bad as it gets, but it's still a personal thing, not a loss of $Xx billion in sales or brand name.

Personally I think Musk needs an intervention, something not right with him and he needs to chill out, detox or whatever for a few months.

If Musk offers a huge reward, you'll see Pattya Beach hotel and bar owners checking decades old security cassettes.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tesla Faces U.S. Criminal Probe Over Musk Statements by hef19898 on Tuesday September 18, 2018 @03:25PM (#18018334)

You are still considered inocent until proofen and found guilty. Which is agood thing IMHO.

[ Parent | on HN ]