Billionaire Elon Musk has urged a federal choose to shift a trial in a shareholder lawsuit out of San Francisco as a result of he says destructive protection by native media protection has biased potential jurors towards him.
Musk’s attorneys argue the trial, set to start on January 17, must be moved to the federal court docket within the western district of Texas.
That district consists of the state capital of Austin, the place Musk moved his electrical automotive firm, Tesla, in late 2021.
The shareholder lawsuit stems from Musk’s tweets in August 2018 when he mentioned he had ample financing to take Tesla personal at $420 a share — an announcement that brought about heavy volatility in Tesla’s share worth.
In a victory for the shareholders final spring, Judge Edward Chen dominated that Musk’s tweets have been false and reckless.
If shifting the trial is not potential, Musk’s attorneys need it postponed till destructive publicity relating to his buy of Twitter and subsequent jobs cuts 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 news gadgets have personally blamed Musk for latest layoffs at Twitter, Spiro wrote, and have charged that the job cuts could have even violated legal guidelines.
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 criticised by San Francisco’s mayor and different native officers for the job cuts, the submitting mentioned.
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 e mail.
