Lawyers for Former Tesla Worker Turn Down Reduced $15M Racism Lawsuit Payout

Lawyers for a former elevator operator at Tesla have rejected a $15 million award in a racism lawsuit after—as previously reported—it was cut down from its original verdict amount of nearly $137 million.

In a statement shared with Reuters on Tuesday, lawyers for Owen Diaz—whose original suit was filed back in 2017—noted their client was requesting a new trial. 

“In rejecting the court’s excessive reduction by asking for a new trial, Mr. Diaz is again asking a jury of his peers to evaluate what Tesla did to him and to provide just compensation for the torrent of racist slurs that was directed at him,” his lawyers said.

When announcing the filing of a race discrimination class action suit against Tesla in November 2017, the California Civil Rights Law Group said the company had “failed to take appropriate action” in response to multiple complaints of racist harassment at its Fremont factory. 

Last October, a jury found Tesla Inc. to be liable for harassment including what the California Civil Rights Law Group said was “near daily use of the N-word” directed at Diaz, who worked at the factory as a contracted elevator operator at the time. The final jury award of $136.9 million in damages, however, was later reduced by a federal judge to $15 million. At the time, the judge argued that the original jury award marked what he considered to be an “unconstitutionally large” amount, ultimately knocking compensatory damages down to $1.5 million and punitive damages down to $13.5 million.