A California federal judge on Wednesday declined to order a third trial in a race discrimination lawsuit against Elon Musk’s Tesla, rejecting claims by a black former factory worker that the company’s lawyers engaged in misconduct.
US District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco in a written order upheld a $3.2 million verdict that a jury awarded to plaintiff Owen Diaz in April, denying Tesla’s motion to cut the award in half.
Diaz, a former elevator operator at Tesla’s Fremont, Calif., factory, claimed he was subjected to severe racial harassment including slurs and racist graffiti.
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His lawyers had argued that Tesla’s legal team had asked improper questions, baselessly accused a witness of lying and made misleading statements to the jury during a five-day trial earlier this year.
Diaz was awarded $137 million by a different jury in 2021, but Orrick in 2021 ruled that the verdict was excessive. The judge ordered the second trial to determine damages after Diaz turned down a lower payout of $15 million.
