After Tesla was sued earlier this year by a state agency alleging mass racial bias at the automaker’s Fremont, California plant, the company has recently fought back with a countersuit filed with the courts.
Tesla filed a motion to countersue the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) on Thursday after the agency sued the automaker in February over claims of racial discrimination (via Reuters).
The filing claims that the CRD utilized “underground regulations” to let the agency file the lawsuit without first notifying Tesla. In doing so, the filing says, the CRD did not comply with state law, since it didn’t seek public comment before investigating and suing the automaker as an employer.
Tesla Hit with Class-Action Lawsuit Over Autopilot and Full Self-Driving https://t.co/SF6PouIwC3
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Additionally, Tesla claims in the countersuit that the CRD’s lawsuit bypasses disclosure requirements to attempt to settle the claims outside of court before filing a suit.
A spokesperson from the CRD did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The news comes just a month after Tesla requested the judge throw the case out, which the judge denied.
Tesla also called the lawsuit “misguided” in a note on its website in February, claiming that the department had conducted dozens of investigations on Tesla prior to the suit without finding any misconduct.
