An engineer who lost her job at Elon Musk’s Tesla after she raised safety concerns, has scored a victory in the latest round of her long-running defamation claim.
The BBC reported that a Tesla whistleblower, an engineer named as Cristina Balan, had raised a safety concern in 2014 about a design flaw which could affect the cars’ braking.
After years of pursuing a defamation claim against Elon Musk’s firm, her case appeared to have ended when a judge confirmed an arbitration decision dismissing her case.
But now the BBC reported that a panel of appeal judges from the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California has now reversed this decision in her favour.
Appeals victory
“Vacating the district court’s order granting Tesla, Inc and Elon Musk’s petition to confirm an arbitration award, the panel held that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to confirm the award pursuant to Badgerow v.Walters, 596 U.S. 1 (2022), which prohibits looking past the face of a petition under 9 U.S.C. § 9 to establish jurisdiction,” the ruling reads.
“Accordingly, the panel vacated the order confirming the arbitration award and remanded this action to the district court with instructions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction,” the ruling states.
Romanian-born Cristina Balan was an engineer that was once so prominent at Tesla, that her initials were engraved on the batteries inside Model S vehicles, the BBC reported.
But Balan in 2014 raised concerns over worries that the carpets were curling underneath some pedals in Tesla models, creating a safety hazard.
Balan alleged managers rebuffed her concerns, became hostile, and she lost her job.
Balan then won a wrongful dismissal case – but this turned out to be the start of a long journey through the courts, the BBC noted.
Balan was publicly accused by Tesla of using its resources for a “secret project” – accusations which amount to embezzlement, a crime under US law.
Balan has consistently denied the accusation, and decided to bring a defamation case against Tesla in 2019.
Fresh trial?
After securing a legal win from a panel of appeal judges, Balan has told BBC News she now wants to face Elon Musk and Tesla in open court.
Tesla has not responded to a request for comment, the BBC noted.
Balan told the BBC she believes the case will now in effect go back to square one, and new proceedings can be launched.
“We are hoping we will start a new lawsuit and we will have the chance to take on Elon Musk in front of a jury and judge,” she said.
“I want to clear my name,” she has previously told BBC. “I wish Elon Musk had the decency to apologise.”
Tesla legal issues
Tesla has experienced a number of legal issues over the years, including many recalls and regulatory investigations, as well as another high profile whistleblower case.
In 2023 a former Tesla employee Lukasz Krupski was awarded a prestigious free speech prize after handing over internal company records that allegedly highlighted safety issues with Tesla’s automated driver assistance feature, marketed as Full Self-Driving (FSD).
Krupski was a service technician at Tesla in Norway, and he allegedly gave 100GB of internal records to German outlet Handelsblatt, which published reports on the alleged safety issues.
Tesla has pursued other staff who have distributed internal data.
In September 2020 Tesla won a court case against a former employee, Martin Tripp, who had been accused of hacking systems at the EV maker, and transferring data to unknown third parties.
