Tesla gets sued again, this time by a former employee

Tesla might have finally started shipping Roadsters, but it just can't stop getting sued -- this time the upstart automaker is being haled into court by former public relations director David Vespremi, who was fired in 2007 during that odd upheaval that saw co-founder Martin Eberhard demoted and finally given the boot. Vespremi isn't all too happy about the situation -- his complaint alleges that Tesla, Tesla CEO Ze'ev Drori and VP of marketing Darryl Siry violated California labor law, made disparaging comments about him and other former employees, and dealt with him in bad faith. That's not unusual for a disgruntled employee, but Vespremi is so confident that Tesla's been screwing people left and right that he's asked for class action certification, which is pretty ballsy but could potentially cause some interesting problems for Tesla. We'll see where this one goes -- Tesla can be pretty prickly, so we're not sure a quick settlement is necessarily in the making.

Disclaimer: Nilay's a lawyer and a fan of electron-based transport, but he's not your lawyer and none of this is legal advice or analysis.

[Via AutoblogGreen; warning, PDF read link]

[Paul Dullford @ Jul 16th 2008 8:26AM]

Ahhh... summer, the season of high temper and thus of litigation.
Tesla's been doing some amazing stuff with their electric cars, but they must get up to speed on corporate management from the looks of their track record.

[Brad @ Jul 17th 2008 6:29PM]

So their former PR guy launches a mud-slinging campaign? Looks like they shouldn't have fired him, because he's clearly good at manipulating public image and opinion!

[collegekid13 @ Jul 16th 2008 8:27AM]

there goes the house

[LondonConsultant @ Jul 16th 2008 8:53AM]

Class action certification for an unfair dismissal - God bless the United States of Attorneys...

[Chad @ Jul 16th 2008 10:20AM]

This happens regularly to large companies in many countries.

[iamsoinsane @ Jul 16th 2008 8:54AM]

If I was paranoid I would say the oil companies had something to do with this.... IF I was paranoid... ;)

[Steffen Jobbs @ Jul 16th 2008 8:57AM]

I'd seen a short video on that roadster. It's a nice looking sport's car. It ran very quiet and the reviewer said it's got lots of low-end torque thanks to the electric motor. The company said that there are only about seven or eight investor cars ready for sale. They won't get the next 40 or so roadsters built until the end of the year. Good luck with that.

[ddub @ Jul 16th 2008 1:51PM]

If you had clicked on the first link on the first sentence you would get some updated info. They've already started delivering to the first customers who aren't Tesla execs.

[xnifex @ Jul 16th 2008 8:58AM]

Wow it's been a long time since we had one of Nilay's disclaimers. I missed them. More people need to get sued & there needs to be more legal action so that Nilay can have more disclaimers. =)

[Arnold @ Jul 16th 2008 9:06AM]

here we go, how much do you want to bet that Tesla ends up being sued to oblivion? Honestly, people have to look at the big picture. Just let the company actually develop, produce, and sell ELECTRIC CARS.
btw, i second that oil company conspiracy speculation.

[Pengadget @ Jul 16th 2008 10:00AM]

power to him.

Gives more time for tesla to research and bring prices down on production. I mean to all u other guys.... its not like it matters to u if they release the car, u probably cant afford it..

If people buy their roadster at their high prices it wont be reduced for a while.

SUE ON

[rodsky @ Jul 16th 2008 9:37AM]

take one for the team asshole

[fashionista @ Jul 16th 2008 10:02AM]

I guess this guy never wants to be hired by anyone, anywhere, again.

[Andrew @ Jul 16th 2008 1:01PM]

If your previous employer is going around telling that you sucked as employee, you're not getting hired anyway. Suing is your only option, short of moving to another country. Why do you think companies don't do stuff so blatantly like that nowdays or why does HR and their policies exist? You only say bad things about a former employee if he/she were fired with a cause. Looks to me as if they had some inexperienced or, worse, clueless people in senior management positions.

[thedesolate1 @ Jul 16th 2008 10:19AM]

If this selfish prick fucks up our chances of getting an affordable and hot sporty looking electric car we should march to his house with pitchforks and torches and throw stones at his house.... who's with me? angry mob status.

[The Pepto Pimp @ Jul 16th 2008 10:26AM]

Kinda makes you wonder who's been coaching Vespremi. Probably the same oil companies that are offering to pay his legal bills.

Then again, a PR director worth his weight in water would know how to make enough clamor to get his own story on blogs like Engadget...

[cliff @ Jul 16th 2008 10:32AM]

That's the valley for you, spoiled little mommas boys that cry when they don't get a toy.
What a Jackass!

[Jan @ Jul 16th 2008 10:37AM]

Tesla is one f'd up company, with an absolutely brain dead investor by the name of Elon Musk and a seriously clueless VP of Marketing in Darryl "Duhhhhh" Siry. With the comments he made in the press regarding the folks at Telsa being laid off because they suck yet telling the folks at Tesla that they were being laid off due to financial reasons and delays of shipping the car, is it any wonder they are being sued? You can't go off on the press saying the people suck and then expect no repercussions.

Hopefully, this lawsuit will open the eyes of the board at Tesla and they can finally whack Darryl and buy out Elon Musk.

Kudos to Vespremi for slapping down those bastards for the things they've done and said.

[Frank Furter @ Jul 16th 2008 10:58AM]

Whoo, that was close. Reading the article title in my RSS feed I was afraid that my favorite Modern Day Cowboys were in a pickle.

[jason51873 @ Jul 16th 2008 11:04AM]

"Nilay's a lawyer and a fan of electron-based transport, but he's not your lawyer and none of this is legal advice or analysis."

HES NOT MY LAWYER!!???!! DAMN and I had my court hearing scheduled already!!!

[Gordon Page @ Jul 16th 2008 11:22AM]

If they can't keep their employees happy I doubt they can keep customers happy....

[Paul Dullford @ Jul 16th 2008 8:27PM]

One complaint from Calacanis and there go half of the potential market.

[Blayne @ Jul 16th 2008 12:44PM]

He just wants back in on the action now that they are actually producing cars.

[lance @ Jul 16th 2008 2:07PM]

I wonder when Apple is going to buy them so they can market themselves better and defend themselves against lawsuits. Although, we probably don't want the word "push" in the same sentence as car and certainly don't want all the fingerprints.
Glad to hear the oil people are still "involved" in the electric car market.
I was starting to miss their domination in my life.
Go ahead flame me!

[DarkJedai @ Jul 16th 2008 2:55PM]

Little editing note: "hauled" . . . possibly typo . . .

Otherwise, Tesla may want to look into Men's Fashion with all the suits they have against them . . .

bad pun, I know, I know.

[Cray @ Jul 16th 2008 9:04PM]

I smell conspiracy.

[MK84 @ Jul 16th 2008 10:03PM]

Is he the same David Vespremi that wrote Car Hacks & Mods for Dummies?

[zeke @ Jul 17th 2008 3:37AM]

Can you lazy bastards call them by their name, Tesla Motors?

Im pretty sure Nikola Tesla's employees are all dead by now.