Tesla has been a frequenter of the court system for the past few years, and this year it has settled a score with an ex-employee over leaked data.
Former Tesla employee, Martin Tripp, has agreed to pay Tesla $400,000 (USD) for sharing production delay information with reporters, as reported by Bloomberg. The lawsuit, which was originally filed by Tesla against Tripp in 2018, was a victory in court for the electric vehicle (EV) giant, after Tripp shared valuable information about the production and delays to the Model 3.
Another part of the suit filing requires that Tripp pay an additional $25,000 (USD) for violating trade secrets and breaking confidentiality agreements, despite being ordered not to by a judge at the time.
https://twitter.com/3D_cristina/status/1333595083397099520
In 2018, Tripp was a process technician for the EV automaker, before sending emails to reporters sharing that the company would not reach CEO Elon Musk’s stated goals for 5,000 Model 3s a week, before being subsequently fired. Shortly thereafter, Tripp countersued Musk for defamation, though that case was thrown out by the federal judge who was on the case.
Tesla Inc. v. Tripp marks a big win for Tesla in the US District Court of Nevada, and other employees are now very unlikely to follow in Tripp’s steps. At the very least, Tripp is just a few hundreds of thousands of dollars from putting this whole issue behind him for good.
