Tesla Co-founder Elon Musk was cleared of defamation with a jury in Los Angeles within a tweet where he labeled an British caver “ man ”. The jury deliberated less than an hour before ruling in favour of Musk and clearing him of any accountability in the high-profile situation that pitted him against Vernon Unsworth.
Unsworth had sought $190 million in compensation from the billionaire, arguing that his reputation was damaged by the tweet.
Musk hugged his lawyer telling reporters afterwards on Friday: “My faith in humanity was restored. ”
Unsworth’s attorney, Lin Wood, had told jurors in closing arguments the $190 million he had been seeking for his client will amount to”a hard slap on the wrist” for Musk and would prevent him “from planting a nuclear bomb in the life span of another individual”.
‘Off-the-cuff insult’
Describing the entrepreneur like a “#x201D & billionaire bully;, Wood stated Unsworth was a person of small means whose life was upended by the row.
Musk’s outburst against Unsworth followed a meeting where the 64-year-old caver disregarded Musk’s supply of a mini-submarine to rescue soccer players trapped in a cave in Thailand in July 2018.
Unsworth in the time stated Musk’s offer was only a PR stunt, a claim that he maintained throughout the trial, and had proposed that he “where it strikes & #x201D stick on his submarine;.
In court testimony, Musk reported that the “pedo man ” tweet he shared with his own 22 million followers had been an off-the-cuff insult and did not imply he had been accusing Unsworth, a financial adviser who splits his time between Britain and Thailand, of being a pedophile.
He apologised on Twitter because of his outburst and during his testimony. He insisted through questioning he was only reacting to Unsworth’s “unprovoked” remarks and claimed “pedo man ” turned into utilized in South Africa, where he grew up
Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro told jurors in his closing argument Friday the situation boiled down to”an argument between two people”, also argued that Unsworth was hoping to profit from the row.
“This has been an insult,” Spiro stated. “Plaintiff is shooting one of these insults and putting it. ” The lawyer insisted it had been Unsworth who picked his client along with a fight had simply pushed .
“Elon Musk doesn’t like that tweet, shareholders don’t like the tweet, Elon Musk’s mom doesn’t like the tweet,” Spiro stated while underlining that nowhere wasn’t that the word pedophile mentioned specifically.
(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)
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