Judge orders new trial in Tesla worker’s race discrimination lawsuit
(Reuters) — A federal judge in California on Monday ordered a new trial on the damages Tesla Inc. owes to a Black former worker who accused the company of race discrimination, after he turned down a $15 million award.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco granted Tesla's motion for a new trial a week after the former elevator operator, Owen Diaz, said he would not accept the judge's award.
Tesla and lawyers for Mr. Diaz did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A jury last October had awarded Mr. Diaz $137 million, one of the largest verdicts ever in a discrimination case involving a single worker. Judge Orrick in April said Tesla was liable to Diaz for discrimination, but he said the award was excessive and lowered it to $15 million.
Mr. Diaz's lawyers said last week that the lower award was unjust and undermined his constitutional rights.
Judge Orrick did not set a date for the new trial but scheduled a conference for July 12.
In his 2017 lawsuit, Mr. Diaz alleged that his colleagues and a supervisor at Tesla's Fremont, California, assembly plant subjected him to a hostile work environment that included racist slurs, caricatures and swastikas.
Tesla is facing a series of lawsuits involving alleged widespread race discrimination and sexual harassment at the Fremont factory, including one by a California civil rights agency.
