Martin Eberhard, the founder and former CEO of Tesla Motors, has filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court in San Mateo against Elon Musk – Tesla’s current CEO – and his former company. Eberhard is seeking damages for slander, libel and breach of contract.
Eberhard was unceremoniously let go from Tesla in late 2007 by then chairman Elon Musk. Musk later claimed Eberhard’s departure was due to an audit that put the price of the Roadster much higher than senior management had predicted, but the law suit claims Musk simply didn’t like Eberhard. Eberhard’s case even claims Musk threatened to convert his Preferred Stock Options into Common Stock Options – thereby gaining control of Tesla’s board of directors – just to get Eberhard out of the company.
Once Eberhard did exit the company, he says that he did not receive the severance payments he was entitled too.
The court document – at 146 pages – covers several other topics which we’re sure will get aired in the coming days. Musk hasn’t been known to exactly hold back his feelings, so keep an eye out for a response. It has also been reported that Musk and Tesla plan to file a countersuit, but there is no legal evidence of that at this point. Stay tuned.
06/11, 10:16 AM
posted by:
idrinorbarsaku
I hope he gets everything he is suing for!
06/11, 10:20 AM
posted by:
pavlindrom
I hope Tesla doesn’t die. Or then whatever, get the evil out even if it kills all that’s left.
06/11, 10:22 AM
posted by:
JakeK66
Maybe he’ll get enough to cover the costs for his 21st birthday party coming up….
06/11, 10:33 AM
posted by:
rileyb
We’ve all been through this- work for a startup, work your ass off, get the product real, new management comes in and wants to change everything, you want to protect your product, out you go
I’m sure he’ll get what’s coming to him- Tesla is engaged to Daimler- they don’t need the bad press
06/11, 10:34 AM
posted by:
oldraven
Man, I don’t like that guy. I would be a Tesla fan if Eberhard still ran the place.
06/11, 10:37 AM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Settle it with plastic shovels at 3 paces in Elon’s sandbox.
06/11, 10:40 AM
posted by:
The Stig
Elon’s enormous ego could make the story interesting and certainly not without a fight. Maybe it’ll be as amicable as when Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards split up.
06/11, 10:55 AM
posted by:
Borat
I have a feeling it will not get to trial and parties will resolve their differences amiably. Or not.
06/11, 11:21 AM
posted by:
A4
I saw a Tesla Roadster at the Hilton in Boston yesterday… it was pretty incredible
06/11, 12:24 PM
posted by:
mayer_ray_nagin
hook a battery pack to his scrotum and give him the “severance” he deserves
06/11, 3:35 PM
posted by:
yarddog82abn
DUDE! It sucks to be you……
06/11, 4:31 PM
posted by:
Gantra
I hope Martin Eberhard all the best.
Elon Musk is the most rude, unprofessional egomaniac who thinks that just because he made a fortune by founding several dotcoms everthing he does is perfection itself and he can just railroad anyone he wants with his big wallet.
Elon needs to learn to keep his big mouth shut. The crude insults he regularly spits out publicly make Donald Trump look like someone with actual class.
06/11, 5:01 PM
posted by:
2WheeledSpeed
I agree with Gantra… Musk is a jerk, I heard about what he did to his employees with that huge email witch hunt.
If you DIDN’T hear about that, basically after one of his employees leaked some info and he launched a huge investigation to find and fire the idiot. He decided that he would stamp out any other disloyalty by sending all employees a memo about trust and loyalty.
Here’s the catch, each email was slightly altered so that if it was leaked to the media he would know exactly who leaked it.
Long story short, he got caught by his own employees and well… we all know how big of an idiot he is now… If my employer did that to me I’d quit then and there, and see about the possibility of a lawsuit (Probably wouldn’t have any grounds, but I’d still ask).
Full story here (You’ve really gotta read this…)
http://valleywag.gawker.com/5164035/tesla-ceo-in-digital-witch-hunt
06/11, 5:25 PM
posted by:
hummah
It would be a shame if Tesla fell apart. It is a project that needs to succeed if only to prove the viability of the electric car as a fun vehicle. But, if they can’t hold it together as a business then consumer confidence will plunge. I understand what Eberhard is doing- I would want to slap that bitch Musk with a lawsuit too. If I was Eberhard I would try and take the whole company down out of vengence- even as its founder.
06/11, 6:11 PM
posted by:
cab396
Mr. Eberhard, I hope you have a legal group behind you that rivals Larry Sonsini’s group. I wish you the best…….Musk is a putz.
06/11, 7:40 PM
posted by:
carstuff
As I have repeatedly said, Tesla is not going to make it because an all electric car, meant for real road conditions, is just too expensive. Even at $105,000 they are losing huge amounts of money. Hopefully in 15 years viable tech will exist.
06/17, 1:49 PM
posted by:
Bankruptcy2009
I don’t care of Musk rat either. I think the originator could take his company to height not seen not that idiot who not only has sold whatever EV secrets and intellectual property right not only over to the Germans but the Moron is at stupid founder of that ****ty on line banking scam called paypal. I never used it and would’nt. He’s a Scam artist. and the hell in a south african doing in the US anyway go back to S.A. Elon Musk and give the company up to MR. Martin Eberhard. there I said my peace. Just don’t give all your secrets away .