Owen Diaz’s long-running lawsuit against Tesla is officially over, now that the two sides have agreed to a settlement. This was reported by Diaz’s lawyer, lawyer Lawrence Organ CNBC “The parties have reached an amicable settlement of their dispute,” but “the terms of the settlement are confidential.” If you’ve been following this case for a while now, that means you may not know how much Diaz made after the massive surgery. 137 million dollars in compensation was paid he was awarded first dramatically lowered $3.2 million
A former elevator operator famously sued the automaker for creating a racist workplace, saying he faced discrimination “straight out of the Jim Crow era” as a black person. He said co-workers posted left-wing swastikas and racist graffiti, such as Caveman Ink, at his workplace and around Tesla’s Fremont assembly plant. Diaz also said that he and other black employees were subjected to racial slurs and that the company failed to address the behavior despite repeated complaints.
In 2021, a San Francisco court ordered Tesla to pay $137 million in damages to a former employee, one of the highest amounts awarded to a plaintiff in a discrimination lawsuit. However, on subsequent appeals, the judge upheld the original jury verdict, but found the amount excessive and reduced it to $15 million. After Diaz refused the reduced amount, the parties went back to court, but the jury further reduced Tesla’s damages to $3.2 million. At the time, Diaz’s attorney said the defense had unfairly attacked him and that they were already seeking a new trial for misconduct. It appears both sides have since agreed to closed-door talks.
Although Diaz is done, Organ also represents Marcus Vaughn filed another lawsuit against the car manufacturer for racial harassment. Von Tesla’s Fremont factory “hotbed for racist behavior” and filed a lawsuit last year class action status so he can add 240 black colleagues to his complaint.
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