Martin Eberhard and Elon Musk reach settlement in lawsuit
by Sam Abuelsamid on Sep 21st 2009 at 8:02AM 
About a month ago we heard that Martin Eberhard had decided to drop his defamation and breach of contract lawsuit against Elon Musk and Tesla Motors. Now comes word that Eberhard and the defendants have actually reached a settlement. Given the ruling of the judge in the case that the suit could proceed, apart from the claim that Musk was falsely claiming a role as co-founder, the settlement should not come as a surprise.
With Tesla having some good news in recent months thanks to DOE loans and an investment from Daimler, the company would surely not want to keep this one hanging out there. As expected, no one is talking about any details of the settlement. However, in a statement that has not yet been released in full, Eberhard reportedly says, "As co-founder of the company, Elon's contributions to Tesla have been extraordinary." In return for whatever Eberhard got, he probably had to make nice with Musk. Interestingly, Eberhard's TeslaFounders blog appears to have been closed.
Gallery: Tesla Model S
[Source: LegalPad]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nick From Montreal 8:09AM (9/21/2009)
Great! Now everyone can go back to opening more Tesla stores and working on the Model S.
Money does bring happiness.
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Richard Brown 10:09AM (9/21/2009)
Deep pockets usually win any lawsuit. Elon has deeper pockets and he seems to have won. The U.S. legal system as usual.
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Nick From Montreal 10:17AM (9/21/2009)
They *both* won. Martin got some green backs and some respect while Elon has one less problem. Only lawyers love lawsuits.
Throwback 11:12AM (9/21/2009)
"He hurt my feelings, so I am going to sue, because money will make me feel better"
What a waste of the legal systems time.
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Doug 11:16AM (9/21/2009)
TeslaMotorsClub posted about this last Friday. Has ABG managed to get any more info?
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/news-articles-events/2901-martin-eberhard-sues-elon-musk-tesla-motors-#post36177.html#post36177
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Doug 11:19AM (9/21/2009)
Oops, typo in the link.
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/news-articles-events/2901-martin-eberhard-sues-elon-musk-tesla-motors-post36177.html#post36177
This place needs an edit function.
Stan Peterson 2:08PM (9/21/2009)
Isn't it wonderful what 3/4 of a billion dollars of your taxpayers money from The Clueless One's clowns, can do to make two people friends once again? Splitting that boodle two ways is such fun...
And they only had to contract for Lotus to build a few hundred kit cars too! No need for unnecessary things like factories or engineering staffs, as well. A few good PR staffers and a kit car constantly repainted and re- photographed can work miracles... Who ever said Potemkin Villages are dead?
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Jeremy 2:32PM (9/21/2009)
Stan --
What are you talking about?
The ~$462 million (which is quite different from 3/4 billion) was a loan from the government to Tesla, not a grant or bailout, etc. Loan = pay it back. As part of receiving that loan, Tesla agreed to use it ONLY for Model S production (that factory you mentioned 'not needing') and drivetrain production. None of that money would have or could have gone to Eberhard in this suit. Tesla has plenty of other funds with which to settle a suit like this.
Lotus has absolutely nothing to do w/ the loan from the government or the Model S. I'd also contest that the Roadster is hardly a kit car any more than it is an Elise with a battery slammed into it. I know that's still a popular sentiment, but with a modified chassis and only ~6% parts similarity it has roots in the Elise (which is NOT a bad thing) but is most certainly its own car, designed from the beginning to be its own car.
The clueless one & his clowns, however, is something we can agree on ;-)
Nozferat 2:46PM (9/21/2009)
Douche versus douche.
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tinman 3:25PM (9/21/2009)
I'm glad both these guys are in America doing what they do. Great egos and minds are what the nation needs. You cannot have one without the other. Can Randy Moss be Randy Moss without all the pieces....attitude included? No.
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Nozferat 4:50PM (9/21/2009)
Yes they can do it without attitude. You can also thank these same types of people for ruining the US economy and in the process destroying the middle class...great minds, great egos.
You don't have to be an ahole to contribute to society. Of course, with that mentality it's no wonder this society is so morally bankrupt.
Level 8:36PM (9/22/2009)
Money sure does cure a lot of problems lol...Eberhard was at least smart in settling and taking the money lol he was going to win the law suit and walk away with the
"reaL Founder of Tesla Title" but broke lol...and Musk ego is toooo big plus he has been bragging on TV how his been the founder flaunting his ego everywhere that loosing the law suit would of put a dent on his ego trip lol...
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