A civil lawsuit from investors in the electric vehicle company Tesla against billionaire Elon Musk over past comments he made about ostensible plans — which never materialized — to take the company private, leading to significant swings in the company’s share price, is heading to trial, with jury selection slated for this week.
Musk, who recently lost an attempt to move the looming trial out of the San Francisco area, also recently took over the social media site Twitter, where his consistently chaotic management decisions — and promotion on the platform itself of far-right nonsense, like a call for prosecuting Dr. Anthony Fauci — have eroded his public credibility to many. In several high-profile cases that were recently the subjects of media coverage, pushes for moving a trial on the grounds of a supposed difficulty in assembling an appropriately unbiased jury have failed. That’s the argument that Elon and his team used here, with the legal team for the prominent business leader suggesting moving the trial to Texas. Federal Judge Edward Chen, who was handling the dispute, observed there was no substantive connection between that proposed venue and the case that would warrant the move.
According to recent reporting published in Fortune, Musk’s legal team pointed to his leadership at Twitter in making the case he’s facing bias, tying the two ostensible factors together. The same reporting notes that Chen also referenced other recent successes in putting together an effectively unbiased jury in a high-profile case and observed that it’s not all animosity towards Elon among members of the public, including those who might serve on a jury. Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Musk, had argued that certain reports about his client constituted “character assassinations” that whatever is eventually presented at trial wouldn’t substantially outweigh. Among the arguments with which those challenging Elon replied was that none of those who filled out questionnaires for prospective jurors worked at Twitter, lessening the possibility of conflicts.
Other cases in which a push to move a trial has failed include criminal proceedings related to the Capitol riot against members of far-right extremist groups including the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. Some of those arguments also relied directly on contentions about the supposed bias of the local population. In one rejection of such a push, federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson quoted the late Anthony Bourdain, who discussed how the people comprising the populace of Washington, D.C., extend well beyond those making the most high-profile political moves.
As for Elon, stock at Tesla is down overall over the course of the last month, according to stock market figures. Changes in that share price can significantly impact his wealth, since data from Bloomberg estimates his shares of the company comprise one-third of his net worth.
