Photo: @JayinShanghai
Tesla is facing an ongoing legal battle against one resident of China who previously sued the company for sales fraud, according to a new report.
Han Chao said on Monday that he is being sued by Tesla in China, after suing the company and winning $650,000 USD (4,199,579 yuan), according to South China Morning Post. The news comes following Han’s victory against Tesla in a previous lawsuit, in which he was awarded $155,000 USD (1,001,437 yuan) for sales fraud.
Han shared photos of legal documentation in which Tesla informed him of the lawsuit, which Tesla lodged against him for online posts, claiming defamation and demanding an apology. In the posts, Han called Tesla a “rogue company,” saying they were “such a quack” and are a “rubbish company.”
Tesla Model Y Popularity Causing Registration Line Ups in China: Report https://t.co/csrrR2xpkB
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) September 22, 2021
In the lawsuit, Tesla said, “Han has been spreading his words through a series of online and offline actions … leading the public to have a negative impression of Tesla, causing damage to the company’s reputation.”
On Weibo, Han responded to the new suit, saying, “Do you mean to say, even though you need to pay me more than 1 million yuan in compensation, even though I am the victim, I cannot say a bad word about you and need to pay 5 million as a price?”
Han had purchased a used Tesla Model S from the company that cited it was accident-free, back in May 2019. But later, the car eventually shut down while driving, according to Han, due to malfunctioning parts. Tesla offered to fix the vehicle.
But Han later took the Model S to a third party for inspection and found rear-side panels were cut and welded, indicating the car had been in a previous accident.
In December 2019, Han took Tesla to Beijing Daxing District People’s Court. Tesla argued the damage and repair was minor, causing no structural damage and therefore no fraud was committed in the sale of the vehicle.
The court eventually ruled in Han’s favor and Tesla had to pay back his payment plus compensation in the form of a fine, at three times the purchasing amount.
Earlier this month, Tesla CEO spoke at the 2021 World Internet Conference in China, seemingly speaking from a teleprompter in an uncommon fashion about artificial intelligence, internet devices and other digital technologies – including the company’s semi-self-driving vehicles.
