Elon Musk 'to be sued in Thailand, London and US’ by cave diver he called 'paedo' in baseless remark

[grobec]

Undoubtedly Musk will settle out of court. Not a good time for him to get more bad press.
Full scholarships for the cave boys and couch on the horizon?
Might be appropriate .


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[side]

As always, a terrific number of quality comments here ?

 

1) it's a Defamation Lawsuit. Both sides have a burden in civil cases. It’s up to Vernon's lawyers to prove Musk said something libelous ie Musk wrote something, it was published, Vernon was identifiable as the target, Vernon suffered reputational damage. Then it’s up to Musk to prove what he wrote was factual. In a civil case, you need only meet a preponderance of the evidence, ie 49/51 on the scale. Can Musk get to 51% on the evidence scale that Vernon is a paedo? Personally I think unlikely.

2) therefore there is money in this so a) Musk is demonstrably, ummm, slightly erratic and confrontational and b) Tesla would want to put this thing to bed, the PR damage to the stock would be higher than a reasonable settlement before going to court

3) so, if this goes to court in 3 different countries, that's a lot of negative noise around Musk & Tesla for quite a while. 

4) can Musk's lawyers prove that Vernon is a paedophile? If yes, it goes to court, if no, it gets settled.

Edited September 7, 2018 by side

[thailand49]

14 hours ago, RuamRudy said:

Wow - seriously? I can accuse anyone of anything, and it might be up to them to disprove it? That seems crazy! 

The lawsuit was brought on by the Brit, thus making EM the defendant like in cases of murder the burden of proof is on the prosecution which is basically the Brit.

[Aupee]

16 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

"It's not illegal to call somebody a pedo,"

It is in Thailand. 

That is strange when you accuse anybody in Thailand for defamation  at the slightest comment causing loss of face. Some posters above have been here too long and have learned to roll over and take it like good little poor Thais let the rich win

[IAMHERE]

I am not convinced these laws that Musk didn't follow are applicable to Twitter. Perhaps the UK guy should sue the Mass Media outlets that popularized the original twit. All those twits from Musk were private conversations.

[side]

5 minutes ago, IAMHERE said:

I am not convinced these laws that Musk didn't follow are applicable to Twitter. Perhaps the UK guy should sue the Mass Media outlets that popularized the original twit. All those twits from Musk were private conversations.

The twitter we know here on planet earth is most certainly subject to defamation laws. A basic google search of "defamation on twitter" would have yielded you 21.7 million results in 0.45 seconds.

 

Furthermore, Musk's comments re Vernon were not "private" as you mention. He simply deleted them.

 

Facts, they're real and searchable.

[theonetrueaussie]

Pretty strong claims by musk but you have to wonder if someone at the cave rescue told him about that guy. You also have to wonder when Musk doubled down on his claims if he had already hired private investigators to investigate the claims and is now waiting for the court date to release all his evidence. Either way going to be interesting to see the outcome of this one. I don't like Musk but he never came across as stupid....

[side]

3 minutes ago, theonetrueaussie said:

Pretty strong claims by musk but you have to wonder if someone at the cave rescue told him about that guy. You also have to wonder when Musk doubled down on his claims if he had already hired private investigators to investigate the claims and is now waiting for the court date to release all his evidence. Either way going to be interesting to see the outcome of this one. I don't like Musk but he never came across as stupid....

You're right, Musk isn't stupid, he's erratic and impulsive. I believe his "paedo" comments were frat boy level things he just threw out there because that's what he's kind of like on twitter ("gonna take tesla private, funding already in place" he won't and it wasn't). 

Edited September 7, 2018 by side

[lordblackader]

17 hours ago, keith101 said:

Me thinks he protests too muuuch and trying to sue him in 3 different countries is ridiculous . The US is the best option not only because thats where Musk lives but if found guilty the payout would be enormous .

Me thinks you might be hiding something in your closet as no sane person wouldn't support this. 

[theonetrueaussie]

Yes at the start they may have been but to double down and dare the guy to sue him. Someone that wealthy with a lot to lose would most definitely have sought legal advice before doing that and most probably have some sort of evidence to back up their claims. If not then he truly is an idiot but like I said you don't become that wealthy by being an idiot so will be interesting to see.

[Easy Come Easy Go]

He can probably afford some super human lawyer on steroids, that would be quite the foe to come up against in court. Even in a 'free' and 'fair' developed nation like the US, people cab get away with murder with they pay the right amount of money for a good lawyer. 

[Dtaw]

^{Musk is a POS. Hope he can never do business in Thailand or England again, and that he has to pay out millions in all three countries.} 

[BestB]

17 hours ago, racket said:

Is Vern going to court just to prove he's not a pedo? It's not illegal to call somebody a pedo, but since there's a dispute he needs to prove he isn't. Elon could easily just funnel some cash to his thai girlfriend and endup turning against him. He could also slide off future investments in thailand, and will thai authorities be happy with that? Could Vern perhaps risk being blacklisted? 

 

I'm getting sick of this Vern guy who's nothing more but a looser hiding in Chiang Rai thinking he was the only hero in the cave rescue operation. I first thought he was reasonable and did a great job, but I'm done supporting the guy. Now we all understand he's doing everything he can to squeeze some cash out of Musk. 

Not only that, what people fail

to understand is that Elon is a tech guru, most likely hacked email accounts already and knows more than all the posters here and even if not , will take seconds to plant something in hacked emails  computer and all over.

 

Even an email exchange with a minor is enough 

[side]

1 minute ago, theonetrueaussie said:

Yes at the start they may have been but to double down and dare the guy to sue him. Someone that wealthy with a lot to lose would most definitely have sought legal advice before doing that and most probably have some sort of evidence to back up their claims. If not then he truly is an idiot but like I said you don't become that wealthy by being an idiot so will be interesting to see.

By that argument, the opposite may also be true. I mean,  Vernon knows himself that he is either a paedo or he is not a paedo.

 

If Vern IS a paedo, then he'd be daft to pursue a lawsuit. Even if he's daft, at least his lawyers would be pointing out the severity of being a paedo and that there may possibly be proof out there which Musk could uncover.

 

Musk can be irrational and is frat boyish on twitter. He throws insults about. This is one of them. 

[MrMo]

Mr Unsworth should consider 'crowd funding' his legal battles with Elon Musk.   I'm sure he would get an enormous response from around the world as well as from all of us expats living in Thailand who have also been defamed by Mr Musk's comments.

 

[Mace648]

16 hours ago, darksidedog said:

I hope Vernon has plenty of money, because lawyers dont work for free, and suing in three countries will be VERY expensive.

I know he kicked things off, but Musk has gone too far and deserves to get nailed. Calling someone a pedo without evidence is just wrong.

1

I'm sure that Vernon will not be paying for the legal expenses out of his own pocket since most lawyers in a high profile case like this would work on a contingency basis,...no settlement for Vernon, no $ for the lawyer. Most lawyers are also smart enough not to take the case unless they feel there is a good chance of winning. Personally, I hope Musk has to pay millions, there is no excuse for a douche like him to be making vile accusations like he did with no justification,

[PatOngo]

17 hours ago, keith101 said:

And why would Musk even come to Thailand .

Somtam?

[BestB]

11 minutes ago, side said:

You're right, Musk isn't stupid, he's erratic and impulsive. I believe his "paedo" comments were frat boy level things he just threw out there because that's what he's kind of like on twitter ("gonna take tesla private, funding already in place" he won't and it wasn't). 

Stupid people do not make billions . Comments taking Tesla private was meant to increase share prices , which it did., which in turn makes him few hundred million richer

[grobec]

Ok Elon
Just say sorry and you are above all this petty nonsense.
Sorry to Brit and full Tesla scholarships for the boys.
Win win for all.
Oh and Elon, if it works, I need a new roof too.[emoji120][emoji120][emoji120]


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[transam]

1 minute ago, BestB said:

Stupid people do not make billions . Comments taking Tesla private was meant to increase share prices , which it did., which in turn makes him few hundred million richer

Rascals also make money, but think they would not risk their money writing on the Net made up stories...Stories "stick", even if untrue, l personally know...No, nothing to do with being a pedo....?

[cnx355]

17 hours ago, keith101 said:

Me thinks he protests too muuuch and trying to sue him in 3 different countries is ridiculous . The US is the best option not only because thats where Musk lives but if found guilty the payout would be enormous .

Sure, but Thailand is the easiest with the law they have here; not much to do to sue someone. False or true they win.

Edited September 7, 2018 by cnx355
typing error

[BestB]

1 minute ago, transam said:

Rascals also make money, but think they would not risk their money writing on the Net made up stories...Stories "stick", even if untrue, l personally know...No, nothing to do with being a pedo....?

Rascals do not make billions and once again Tesla comment was aimed at raising falling share prices?

 

As for pedo comment , once again hacking into email or computer would take less than 5 mins for someone like Musk?

[Borzandy]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

considering going through Thai courts where Mr Musk could even be handed a jail sentence for his remark

Be careful Elon, you could be also banned from Thailand.

[MekkOne]

17 hours ago, racket said:

Is Vern going to court just to prove he's not a pedo? It's not illegal to call somebody a pedo, but since there's a dispute he needs to prove he isn't. Elon could easily just funnel some cash to his thai girlfriend and endup turning against him. He could also slide off future investments in thailand, and will thai authorities be happy with that? Could Vern perhaps risk being blacklisted? 

 

I'm getting sick of this Vern guy who's nothing more but a looser hiding in Chiang Rai thinking he was the only hero in the cave rescue operation. I first thought he was reasonable and did a great job, but I'm done supporting the guy. Now we all understand he's doing everything he can to squeeze some cash out of Musk. 

So true...

[tigermoth]

17 hours ago, colinneil said:

Vern Unsworth started this nonsense, now he is going overboard suing Musk in 3 countries.

You need to be very careful maybe it will come back and bite you in the backside.

They were both wrong, both made stupid remarks, and why is Vern buggering up his life with this nonsense, live and let live, move on enjoy whats left of your life.

Vern Unsworth did not start this nonense as you call it. Unsworth made a simple and completely true statement that Musks so called rescue vehicle would not be able to traverse some of the very small and restricted spaces. This got Musk's ire up, as Trump does when he is critized, and he made some very untrue and regretful statemrnts and continued raving on deserving to have his b.... kicked which is now happening.

[side]

10 minutes ago, BestB said:

Stupid people do not make billions . Comments taking Tesla private was meant to increase share prices , which it did., which in turn makes him few hundred million richer

As a short term strategy to bump his net worth substantially yes. I don't think that was his goal though. The fact that he and Tesla had to roll back that statement almost immediately and a subsequent TV appearance where he broke down, spoke of the stress, taking sleeping pills and so on has seen the share price drop to 280-ish. So, if it WAS his strategy, then his tactics are all over the place....

 

[colinneil]

1 minute ago, tigermoth said:

Vern Unsworth did not start this nonense as you call it. Unsworth made a simple and completely true statement that Musks so called rescue vehicle would not be able to traverse some of the very small and restricted spaces. This got Musk's ire up, as Trump does when he is critized, and he made some very untrue and regretful statemrnts and continued raving on deserving to have his b.... kicked which is now happening.

You are wrong Unsworth did start the nonsense, did he not say ... Stick your sub where the sun dont shine?

In my eyes that is what started it.

[tigermoth]

3 minutes ago, MekkOne said:

So true...

It is illegal calling someone a pedo if it is untrue, defamation it is called. he has every right to sue Musk. Unsworth has been very quiet about this but Musk refuses to stop.

[OneMoreFarang]

Just now, colinneil said:

You are wrong Unsworth did start the nonsense, did he not say ... Stick your sub where the sun dont shine?

In my eyes that is what started it.

Elon Musk could have replied in many way to that. Ignore it, reply with something similar, or bring it up to a total new level. Accusing someone to be a pedo is probably one of the worst levels possible. That was totally unnecessary and a smart guy like Elon should know that.

[transam]

7 minutes ago, BestB said:

Rascals do not make billions and once again Tesla comment was aimed at raising falling share prices?

 

As for pedo comment , once again hacking into email or computer would take less than 5 mins for someone like Musk?

"Rascals don't make billions", well I can think of one...

I doubt he would risk hacking and the possible ramifications, even a rich school boy like him..