Tesla sues Fisker

[DDB]

Attorneys sometimes are aware of arbitration clauses and try to avoid them by filing in court. In this case, it backfired...apparently. I don't like them because for one, you can't get a jury in arbitration. You're bound by whatever rules the arbitration clause is governed by. If I had to guess, the American Arbitration Association.

People are quick to slam Tesla's lawyers...but they probably filed in court for a reason. There will be a very strict construction (reading) of the contract. I'd be more concerned about the Magna (or whatever their name is) contract over the transmission. A strict construction of that contract and Tesla is out about $6m.

 

[doug]

Thanks, DDB, for your insight.



Current Event - AutoWeek Magazine

An arbitrator could be appointed by the end of next week, with a decision coming within three months, a Fisker lawyer said.

 

[doug]

The recent PBS News Hour interview with Elon had a possible reference to the rationale behind the Fisker lawsuit:

SPENCER MICHELS: You're pretty concerned, or the company is, about proprietary technology or development. You want to protect it. What, in general terms, does that technology do and I assume that's outside just the fact of the battery?

ELON MUSK: Yeah, well the whole power train, Tesla's been developing an entire electric power train, which is really the battery pack, the power electronics, the motor and the transmission. They're all Tesla proprietary, and then there's all the software that controls and manages all that. And the software's actually a quite significant piece as well. So we're very concerned about protecting that element.
We're also very concerned about just protecting the knowledge of what it takes to integrate that electric power train into a car and what it takes to certify that and get that past the crash tests and past the U.S. government regulatory bodies. All that information is something that -- we spent a lot of money and effort figuring all this stuff out. And so we want to make sure it's protected...

 

[doug]

LeBlogAuto interview with Henrik Fisker:
Video Interview de Henrik Fisker - Henrik, Fisker, Karma, hybrid, trial - Dailymotion Share Your Videos
At 1:40 he briefly discusses the lawsuit.

 

[doug]

I suppose this could be relevant to this thread:

In orange county for the day. Fun fun. about 8 hours ago from web


Lawyers lawyers lawyers... about 4 hours ago from web

 

[dpeilow]

Arbitrator's Interim Award Completely Vindicates Fisker Coachbuild, LLC

Arbitrator's Interim Award Completely Vindicates Fisker Coachbuild, LLC & Fisker Automotive, Inc. in Tesla Lawsuit - MarketWatch

Arbitrator rules in favor of Fisker in dispute with Tesla Motors - AutoWeek Magazine

The extra $20m might come in handy.

 

[Cobos]

Any news on how much this cost Tesla ? I'd really really like to see the Model S now, so as to see what they did manage on their own...

Oh well, hopefully since this went to arbitration it wont be that costly for Tesla.

Cobos

 

[malcolm]

At least we got a BEV sedan out of it.

 

[DDB]

At least we got a BEV sedan out of it.

You sound disappointed Malcolm. I think this is good news, especially for the consumer. Without knowing the facts, do you disagree with the outcome?

 

[graham]

This lawsuit always seemed a bit ill-considered to me. I was hoping that I was just missing key information which made it more valid, but it seems not.

It is good that it is over. More competition is certainly better for the consumer, and ultimately (I hope) for Tesla itself.

 

[jsnable]

The last sentence of the Autoweek article is probably the biggest news:

"It also announced this morning it had received $40 million in new financing to accelerate production of the Tesla Roadster."

Jay

 

[malcolm]

No I am pleased about Model S being a BEV.

 

[dpeilow]

Tesla vs Fisker: The Epilogue (Or, Why Tesla Owes Fisker $1.1 Million) | Automotive News Blog - Wide Open Throttle

 

[doug]

Tesla vs Fisker: The Epilogue (Or, Why Tesla Owes Fisker $1.1 Million) | Automotive News Blog - Wide Open Throttle

Well that was an informative article. Time line and everything. Back in July, I had a chat with Siry and we touched on the Fisker lawsuit. Siry mentioned something about the suit going into discovery, which meant to me that they really didn't have any evidence of wrong doing. So I figured getting a ruling in Tesla's favor was a unlikely. That rebuke at the end of the arbitration document stings a bit, though.