List of lawsuits involving Tesla, Inc.

[2] A significant number of the cases notably derive from the actions of the company's CEO, Elon Musk, who is also party to many of his own lawsuits.

[3] TSLAQ, a loose collective of anonymous short-sellers and skeptics of Tesla and Elon Musk, regularly discusses and shares news of these lawsuits on Twitter and elsewhere.

[12] In October and November 2018, five derivative lawsuits were filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery against Musk and the members of Tesla's board of directors (as then constituted) in relation to statements and actions connected to the potential going private transaction.

[26] In September 2021, five police officers submitted a complaint against in part Tesla for a crash involving Autopilot that left them badly injured.

The plaintiffs' stated aim is to "force Tesla to publicly acknowledge and immediately correct the known defects inherent in its Autopilot [capability]".

In a February 2022 blog post, Tesla responded to the lawsuit and stated that they "will be asking the court to pause the case and take other steps to ensure that facts and evidence will be heard.

"[31][32] In August 2022, California's Office of Administrative Law declined to review a petition from Tesla claiming that DFEH failed to conduct a full investigation prior to filing the lawsuit.

[46] The California Civil Rights Department filed a suit in 2022 alleging "a pattern of racial harassment and bias" at the Tesla Fremont factory.

The lawsuit alleges that "the company knew the Model X had issues and that Tesla was negligent in designing the car without proper sensors and other safety features.

Tesla filed a lawsuit against the BBC for libel and malicious falsehood, claiming that two cars were provided and that at any point, at least one was ready to drive.

[58][59][60][61] However, Top Gear frequently stages scenes for comedic effect, for example by showing Jeremy Clarkson having to refuel the Jaguar XJS three times during the review of it.

[13] Tesla was also party to a lawsuit filed in July 2018, alleging that SolarCity improperly fired three employees who blew the whistle on fraudulent sales records at the company.

The suit alleged that Tesla and other major automakers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volkswagen, illegally used foreign construction workers to build their U.S. factories.

[80] The parties entered into a confidential settlement on January 17, 2020, and as of August 2022[update], the court retained jurisdiction to enforce compliance of the terms.

[86] The Land Transport Authority justified this by stating that it had to "account for CO2 emissions during the electricity generation process" and therefore "a grid emission factor of 0.5g/watt-hour was also applied to the electric energy consumption",[87] however Tesla countered that when the energy used to extract, refine, and distribute gasoline was taken into account, the Model S produces approximately one-third the CO2 of an equivalent gasoline-powered vehicle.

The literature pointed to working conditions, the company's confidentiality agreement and employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

[113][114] Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison chastised Musk for "threats" of unlawful retaliation and presented a list of questions on union activities and worker safety records, asking for a response by June 15.

[115] In September 2019, a California judge ruled that 12 actions by Musk and other Tesla executives violated labor laws in 2017 and 2018 when they sabotaged employee attempts to unionize.

[128] On June 20, 2018, Tesla filed a civil lawsuit in Nevada against Tripp, accusing him of hacking the automaker and supplying sensitive information to unnamed third parties.

[143] In 2019, Lynn Thompson sued Tesla for terminating his security contract after he reported the theft of US$37 million worth of copper and other raw materials to local authorities.

[157] In August 2019, a class action lawsuit was filed in Northern California, claiming that a 2019 over-the-air software update throttled the Model S battery life, some by as much as 40 miles.

[159] In April 2021, a Norwegian judge found Tesla guilty of throttling charging speed in a similar suit, after they failed to respond to the lawsuit.

[166] In July 2023, the directors denied wrongdoing and settled the lawsuit by agreeing to return $735 million to the company, besides consenting to forgo compensation for the years 2021 through 2023.

[172][173] In April 2022, federal judge William Orrick upheld the jury finding of Tesla's liability but reduced the award to $15 million.

Following the court's consolidation of the individual cases, Tesla created a program offering to return the prices to their original amounts to those affected.

[182] Tesla had recently claimed in a letter to the NHTSA that "the root cause of the issue is driver abuse... uniquely severe in the China market.

[184] In June 2022, Musk, Tesla, and other companies led by him were listed as defendants in a class action lawsuit claiming they participated in a pyramid scheme around the price of Dogecoin.

[187] Judge Alvin Hellerstein dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice in August 2024, writing that no reasonable investor could depend on Musk's tweets to file a securities fraud claim, adding that it was "not possible to understand" the insider trading and market manipulation allegations.

[188][189] In March 2023, a class action antitrust lawsuit was filed against Tesla by Virginia M. Lambrix in San Francisco, California, alleging that the company unlawfully monopolized the market for maintenance and repair of its vehicles in violation of the Sherman Act and California antitrust law, as a result of which owners were "forced to pay supracompetitive prices and suffer exorbitant wait times" for maintenance services and repair parts.

[198] In January 2024, Tesla agreed to pay $1.3 million in civil penalties and $200,000 to reimburse investigation costs for the alleged illegal disposal of hazardous waste in 25 counties in California.