Jury reduces Tesla’s $137 million racism lawsuit penalty to $3.2 million

Again in 2021, a San Francisco court docket ordered Tesla to pay Owen Diaz, a former Black contract employee who accused the corporate of enabling a racist office, $137 million in damages. It was one of many highest quantities awarded to a person suing on the idea of discrimination, however the appeals that adopted had lowered it considerably. Whereas US District Choose William Orrick affirmed the jury’s unique verdict, he discovered the unique damages awarded to Diaz “extreme” and lowered the full to $15 million. Now, a San Francisco federal jury has decreased the quantity even additional and has ordered Tesla to pay Diaz $3.2 million solely. 

The previous elevator operator at Tesla’s Fremont meeting plant rejected the $15 million award Orrick had proposed and as an alternative hunted for a retrial. Within the newest listening to, Diaz once more recounted his experiences working for Tesla, the place he stated he and his fellow Black staff have been subjected to racial slurs. He additionally stated that he was made to really feel unsafe at work and that different staff left drawings of swastika and racist graffiti, equivalent to Inki the Caveman, in his workspace and the corporate restrooms. 

Diaz’s attorneys urged the jury to penalize Tesla, an organization presently price over $600 billion, an quantity that may get its consideration. However Tesla’s lawyer Alex Spiro reportedly argued that Diaz ought to solely be awarded half his wage. He apparently characterised Diaz as a liar in court docket, who misstated how lengthy he labored on the automaker and who exaggerated his testimonies and the abuse he suffered to realize a much bigger payout. 

We might not be seeing the tip to this case, although. In accordance with the Los Angeles Times, Diaz’s lawyer believes the jury selected awarding him solely $3 million in punitive damages and $175,000 in non-economic damages as a result of he was wrongly attacked by the protection. He stated Tesla’s technique to “decrease and sanitize” labored and that he has already filed a request for a brand new trial attributable to “misconduct.”