A judge in California state has now rejected Musk`s argument that the suit filed by the Indian American student.
A US court has rejected Tesla CEO Elon Musk`s argument against an Indian American student and Tesla critic Randeep Hothi.
Musk had accused Hothi of "almost killing" his factory employees. Hothi then proceeded to sue Musk, claiming that the accusation was defamatory.
A judge in California state has now rejected Musk`s argument that the suit filed by Hothi was baseless and against his free speech. The judge said that Hothi has shown that he can win the lawsuit, according to media reports.
In 2018, Hothi assumed the role of a social activist and observed Tesla`s production at its Fremont, California-based factory. He also documented the construction of Tesla`s Model 3 assembly line tent, sharing photos of his Twitter followers.
In 2019, Hothi saw a Tesla-owned vehicle with roof-mounted cameras on the road that was recording audio, video, and data.
"Hothi followed the vehicle, observed it, photographed it, and posted the photographs on Twitter. At no point did Hothi either drive recklessly or endanger the safety of the occupants of the Tesla vehicle," the defamation lawsuit read.
A few days later, Tesla filed a civil restraining order against Hothi claiming that he trespassed, stalked, harassed and endangered Tesla employees.
A doctoral candidate in Asian languages and cultures at the University of Michigan, Hothi created the @skabooshka Twitter account where he fact-checked Musk and Tesla`s "published claims regarding the electric vehicle manufacturer`s automation, technology, and production processes," www.courthousenews.com had reported in August last year.
According to Hothi`s lawyer, his client started fact-checking Tesla via a Twitter account "as a social experiment through crowd-sourcing information related to his social science doctorate work".
However, Musk did not let the matter go.
In an exchange of emails with Aaron Greenspan, the owner of the litigation publishing website PlainSite.org, Musk said: "As for the people you mention below, they have actively harassed, and in the case of Hothi, almost killed Tesla employees."
"What was a sideswipe when Hothi hit one of our people could easily have been a death with 6 inches of difference," the email further said
Hothi`s bio on University of Michigan`s website shows he is he is interested in how minority communities - specifically diasporic Sikhs - creatively respond to the world around them.
(With IANS inputs)
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