Musk to testify in own defense in defamation trial against British cave explorer

[webfact]

Musk to testify in own defense in defamation trial, his lawyer says

By Rachel Parsons

 

FILE PHOTO: Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures during a conversation at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 13, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Tesla Inc's chief executive, Elon Musk, will testify in his own defense against a defamation lawsuit brought by a British cave explorer, Musk's lawyer said on Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

 

Vernon Unsworth is suing Musk for calling him a "pedo guy." Musk posted the tweet after Unsworth accused Musk in a CNN interview of grandstanding by offering to help Unsworth's diving team rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach from a Thailand cave in July 2018.

 

"Evidence is going to be through Mr. Musk (testifying) that in fact Mr. Musk didn't call him a pedophile. Mr. Musk deleted the tweet, apologized and moved on," Alexander Spiro, Musk’s attorney, told the court. 

 

There was no sign either side was interested in settling the case before a trial scheduled to begin on Dec. 3 in the Los Angeles federal court.

 

Unsworth will also testify, said his attorney, L. Lin Wood. He will provide evidence of damages by “talking about his worries, his anxieties, his concern by being branded a pedophile,” Wood told the court.

 

U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson called for a second day of pretrial hearings on Tuesday to thrash out what evidence can be used in next week's civil trial.

 

Last week, Wilson rejected Musk's attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed and also ruled that Unsworth was not a public figure - which makes it easier to prove defamation.

 

Unsworth can now win if he shows that Musk acted negligently when making his comments.

 

PUBLIC FIGURE

Musk had argued that Unsworth became a public figure because of his help with the high-profile rescue and needed to prove "actual malice."

 

Musk has apologized for the "pedo guy" comment, saying it was a common insult in South Africa where he was raised, and that he did not intend to accuse Unsworth of pedophilia.

 

Unsworth has denied the allegations and has said he had shared a house in the Thailand countryside with a 40-year-old woman who owned a nail salon.

 

The dispute between the two men arose after the search team decided not to use a mini-submarine offered by Musk's SpaceX rocket company to help with the rescue. Unsworth told CNN that the offer was a "PR stunt" and that Musk could "stick his submarine where it hurts."

 

Unsworth is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

 

Musk recently settled a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit over his Twitter use.

 

The case is Unsworth v Musk, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 18-08048.

 

(Reporting by Rachel Parsons; Writing by Bill Tarrant; Editing by Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-26

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[darksidedog]

Good Luck Vernon. This guy deserves to get nailed.

[Myran]

"Elon Musk, will testify in his own defense against a defamation lawsuit"

 

Oh, boy. That's probably gonna go about as well as their glass demonstration. 

[Odysseus123]

I hope the defence will not let the fellow anywhere near a mobile phone during the court case...

[Eindhoven]

Labelling someone a paedophile is extremely serious. Few things evoke the kind of emotions that can manifest themselves when people perceive you as such.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/14/paedophile-richard-huckle-found-dead-in-prison

 

Whereas; https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/21/three-men-80s-murdered-wrongly-labelled-paedophiles-11192316/

[Myran]

1 hour ago, Eindhoven said:

Labelling someone a paedophile is extremely serious. Few things evoke the kind of emotions that can manifest themselves when people perceive you as such.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/14/paedophile-richard-huckle-found-dead-in-prison

 

Whereas; https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/21/three-men-80s-murdered-wrongly-labelled-paedophiles-11192316/

Very true, and even if the allegations turn out to be false, you will always have them attached to your name. Same with false rape allegations. The people making up these claims should be punished just as severely as people who have actually committed the crimes.

[Aussieroaming]

Get at him, he shouldn't be calling people "pedo guys" regardless of the events leading up to the tweet.

[Jane Dough]

Musk testifying should guarantee an extra million or so for our Vern. 

 

Rooster

[silver sea]

5 hours ago, Eindhoven said:

Labelling someone a paedophile is extremely serious. Few things evoke the kind of emotions that can manifest themselves when people perceive you as such.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/14/paedophile-richard-huckle-found-dead-in-prison

 

Whereas; https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/21/three-men-80s-murdered-wrongly-labelled-paedophiles-11192316/

 

And some people think that ”paedo” is short for paediatrician!

 

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/paediatrician-targeted-after-title-taken-for-paedophile-1.1261763

[oobar]

Is pedo also not short for pedodontist, which, though likely not correct in this case, is hardly an insult worth suing over.  A silly lawsuit.

[gavlar]

2 hours ago, Jane Dough said:

Musk testifying should guarantee an extra million or so for our Vern. 

 

Rooster

I guess Rooster that this is all posturing at the moment and it will be settled before the trial ...hope he gets a few quid!

[Chazar]

7 hours ago, Eindhoven said:

Labelling someone a paedophile is extremely serious. Few things evoke the kind of emotions that can manifest themselves when people perceive you as such.

tells  you  more  about  todays  society of  gossipmongers more than anything else.

[MarcB]

This has been going on for a year now?

Come on... seriously 2 crying babies

 

Stick it in your ass
Shut up pedo guy

 

That's the end of it...2 kids on a playground, grow up and move on

and don't go cry to mommy

 

[maxcorrigan]

1 hour ago, MarcB said:

This has been going on for a year now?

Come on... seriously 2 crying babies

 

Stick it in your ass
Shut up pedo guy

 

That's the end of it...2 kids on a playground, grow up and move on

and don't go cry to mommy

 

It did'nt stop there though did it, Musk went on and  called him a pedo again in a later posting and  then got  someone to dig into Vern's past to try to find some dirt to nail him with, and tried to prove Vern married his wife while she was underage which all proved unsuccessful, despicable bartsard!

Edited November 26, 2019 by maxcorrigan

[MarcB]

2 hours ago, maxcorrigan said:

It did'nt stop there though did it, Musk went on and  called him a pedo again in a later posting and  then got  someone to dig into Vern's past to try to find some dirt to nail him with, and tried to prove Vern married his wife while she was underage which all proved unsuccessful, despicable bartsard!

ah yes, he actually did that.

and that guy Vern made headlines saying bad things about Musk....

 

It's not Musk who started the saga, is it?

But he could have handled it better and just let it go.

 

It's a bit like Thavisa.

Someone gives his opinion on a post, then another one replies to it, and a fight ensues.
And then the next day, they get over it and go to the next topic.

 

Just shows they are both like little kids, I think.

 

If you call me a pedo, I say <deleted> you

and go on minding my business and probably never talk to you again...that's easy

 

[Chazar]

19 minutes ago, MarcB said:

ah yes, he actually did that.

and that guy Vern made headlines saying bad things about Musk....

 

It's not Musk who started the saga, is it?

But he could have handled it better and just let it go.

 

It's a bit like Thavisa.

Someone gives his opinion on a post, then another one replies to it, and a fight ensues.
And then the next day, they get over it and go to the next topic.

 

Just shows they are both like little kids, I think.

 

If you call me a pedo, I say <deleted> you

and go on minding my business and probably never talk to you again...that's easy

 

Ah  but it seems  many here think its a heinous crime to say that to someone, I disagree its  todays dumb society, everyone is taking offence........ Im a  woman who used to be  a man but you must  call me a cucumber as its  how I want to be addressed etc etc

When I was a   kid there was often one oddball in the road usually totally harmless and they got  called  all sorts by idiots, now it seems  there s a  pervert everywhere, cant take a photo of a kid youll be a paedo.........school  play ............forget it,a sad sad  world.

I love mucking about with kids  they have zero prejudice...I must be a pervert/paedo.....can I sue myself?

[rumak]

31 minutes ago, Chazar said:

I love mucking about with kids

good thing you got your spelling right on that one.............

[bendejo]

Can anyone from South Africa in here verify this alternative use of "pedo" that Musk claims?

Or is it on the level of the way these guys use stinker ?  ????

 

 

 

[webfact]

Musk won't settle 'pedo guy' defamation lawsuit, lawyer says

By Rachel Parsons

 

Plaintiff attorney L. Lin Wood (R) arrives for a pretrial hearing for a defamation case in which Elon Musk is accused of defaming British cave diver Vernon Unsworth, California, U.S. November 25, 2019. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An attorney for Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of electric car maker Tesla, said on Tuesday that his client had no intention of settling a defamation suit brought by a British cave explorer before the case goes to trial on Dec. 3. Vernon Unsworth is suing Musk for calling him a "pedo guy" in one of a series of tweets. Musk posted the tweets after Unsworth accused Musk in a CNN interview of grandstanding by offering to help Unsworth's diving team rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach from a cave in Thailand in July 2018.

 

Asked after Tuesday's session in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles if there was any chance Musk would settle before the civil trial, his attorney Alex Spiro told Reuters: “No.”

 

The defamation suit is one of the last remaining issues hanging over Musk from a turbulent period in 2018 and early 2019, during which the tech entrepreneur's use of Twitter and his personal behavior rattled Tesla shareholders and drew pressure from regulators.

 

Lawyers for Musk and Unsworth argued for a second day on Tuesday about evidence that could be used in next week's trial. U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson said those arguments would continue on Monday before he provides a written ruling.

 

Unsworth's attorney L. Lin Wood wants to present a series of emails Musk wrote to a Buzzfeed reporter in August of last year, including one in which he told the reporter to "stop defending child rapists."

 

Unsworth‘s legal team withdrew the Buzzfeed emails from the basis of its defamation suit last week, and is suing now only for the four tweets Musk published in July 2018. But Wood told the court he wants to present the emails as supporting evidence pointing to Musk’s "state of mind" in the original tweets.

 

Musk has apologized for the "pedo guy" comment, saying it was a common insult in his native country of South Africa, and that he did not intend to accuse Unsworth of pedophilia.

 

"BACKDOOR EVIDENCE"

Spiro told the court Musk was "not trying to block evidence" by wanting the emails excluded.

 

“(But) from our perspective, this is trying to backdoor evidence,” which, Spiro said, could prejudice a potential jury after Wood removed the emails from the defamation claim against Musk.

 

Lawyers for both sides said on Monday that Musk and Unsworth would testify in what promises to be a combative trial. 

 

"Evidence is going to be through Mr. Musk (testifying) that in fact Mr. Musk didn't call him a pedophile. Mr. Musk deleted the tweet, apologized and moved on," Spiro told the court.

 

Unsworth, who is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, will provide evidence of damages by “talking about his worries, his anxieties, his concern by being branded a pedophile,” Wood told the court on Monday.

 

Last week, Wilson rejected Musk's attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed and also ruled that Unsworth was not a public figure - which makes it easier to prove defamation.

 

Unsworth can now win if he shows Musk acted negligently in making his comments.

 

The dispute between the two men arose after the cave search team in Thailand decided not to use a mini-submarine offered by Musk's SpaceX rocket company to help with the rescue. Unsworth told CNN the offer was a "PR stunt" and Musk could "stick his submarine where it hurts."

 

The case is Unsworth v Musk, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 18-08048.

 

(Reporting by Rachel Parsons; writing by Bill Tarrant; Editing by Leslie Adler)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-27

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[Andrew65]

13 hours ago, MarcB said:

ah yes, he actually did that.

and that guy Vern made headlines saying bad things about Musk....

 

It's not Musk who started the saga, is it?

But he could have handled it better and just let it go.

 

It's a bit like Thavisa.

Someone gives his opinion on a post, then another one replies to it, and a fight ensues.
And then the next day, they get over it and go to the next topic.

 

Just shows they are both like little kids, I think.

 

If you call me a pedo, I say <deleted> you

and go on minding my business and probably never talk to you again...that's easy

 

If you call me a pedo, I say <deleted> you

and go on minding my business

No you don't, not if it's all over the world media.

 

This stuff can lose you your job, even when it's untrue, I know from experience.

 

Musk's just too arrogant to admit that he was wrong (even though I think he know's he was), pay some easily affordable compensation to this guy, and maybe to a charity (as a goodwill gesture), then move on.

 

He'd rather carry on dragging this through the courts and get all the negative media reports that go with that.

A brilliant man in many ways, but has gone way down in my estimation.

 

 

[tifino]

coupla silly Willy Wonkas 

[Scot123]

I think The Cave Guy (a bloody hero) wants this to go to court and this is musk trying to act the big man. Now there is no financial risk/no down side for this to go to court. I hope the court screws musk. Unlike a few on here who seem to think this is nothing to get bothered about are living in an alternative universe. Calling someone a pedo is the biggest form of deformation which has severe consequences and the mud sticks for a lifetime. 

[Ireland32]

I had a guy spreading Rumours I had HIV , I wonder what I could have done, I see some hospital told some ladies friends and family that she had HIV , she got 30 million

[Eindhoven]

16 hours ago, MarcB said:

ah yes, he actually did that.

and that guy Vern made headlines saying bad things about Musk....

 

It's not Musk who started the saga, is it?

But he could have handled it better and just let it go.

 

It's a bit like Thavisa.

Someone gives his opinion on a post, then another one replies to it, and a fight ensues.
And then the next day, they get over it and go to the next topic.

 

Just shows they are both like little kids, I think.

 

If you call me a pedo, I say <deleted> you

and go on minding my business and probably never talk to you again...that's easy

 

 

 

...and you'll get banned. There are rules.

 

Your thinking is directly from the playground. 

 

Quote

It's not Musk who started the saga, is it?

 

is about as childish as it gets.

 

So you call me a name and I stab you with a knife and it's all ok because you started it. No consequences, we both just get over it.

Cool thinking.....or maybe you want to rethink.

 

 

 

[bino]

Since the offence was committed here in Thailand, they should have tried it here where defamation is criminal and Musk could rot in Bang Kwang.

[Lacessit]

Guys like Musk get to where they are by persistence. That's fine in business, but I doubt it works as well in court.

[justin case]

26 minutes ago, bino said:

Since the offence was committed here in Thailand, they should have tried it here where defamation is criminal and Musk could rot in Bang Kwang.

musk is a billionaire, they above the law

 

or just never set foot in this 3rd world country

[oobar]

I think Unsworth has been in Thailand too long and possibly become infected with TDD (Thai Defamation Disease).  Get a life.  You don't sue someone for calling you a name after you've insulted him.

[Mick501]

I often love to joke with my South African friends and call them pedo guy.   And they jokingly punch me in the face.  Good times!

[Eindhoven]

20 minutes ago, oobar said:

I think Unsworth has been in Thailand too long and possibly become infected with TDD (Thai Defamation Disease).  Get a life.  You don't sue someone for calling you a name after you've insulted him.

 

You haven't really kept up, have you? It's really plain for all to see when someone posts without having any knowledge of the subject matter at all.