Judge Nathan tells Musk and SEC: "Work it!"
Pure power
Published on April 5, 2019 |
by Steve Hanley
5. April 2019 by Steve Hanley
Anyone who has ever tried to guess what a judge was thinking is a cursed trick, but as a rule, when a judge sends both parties a dispute with an admonition to resolve Their differences, it is a sign the court believes both act as spoiled children, and it is time for them to grow up.
That's pretty much what federal courts judge Alison Nathan did on April 4 when Elon Musk and lawyers for the SEC came up with her. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a motion asking the Court to hold Musk contempt for two tweets on February 19. The first said that Tesla would produce 500,000 cars in the calendar year 2019. Shortly thereafter, he succeeded by tweeting that company would produce 400,000 in 2019, but would be at pace to make 500,000 cars at the end of the year – would hit a weekly round that extrapolated with 52 weeks would be 500,000.
SEC took the fate of tweets and claimed that they deliberately violated an agreement that the company Musk and SEC came to last year after the infamous "Tesla private" tweet caused Tesla sellers to get their BVDs in a gang. Before his legal action on April 4, Musk said the other tweet was "true, no matter for shareholders, and in no way a violation of my agreement with the SEC."
This agreement last year is what led to Musk aside as head of the company, a position later filled by Robyn Denholm. It was also meant to make Musk more cautious when it came to publishing tweets that could affect the company's stock price.
The thought of courtroom observers is that if Nathan agreed with the SEC, she would have sanctioned Musk and been done with it. That she did not suggest the judge found the SEC case less than convincing.
In court, she told both sides: "Put your reasonableness on pants." She then ordered both parties to meet each other for at least an hour for the next two weeks to prepare an agreement that would prepare the original order and resolve the ongoing movement to keep Musk contempt. They must submit a joint report to the court by the end of the two-week cooling period.
After the hearing, Musk issued a statement and said: "We have always felt that we should be able to work through some disagreement directly with the SEC, rather than premature rushing for the court. Today, that's exactly what Judge Nathan instructed."
According to a report from CNBC, Musk was asked if the two sides would meet and resolve their dispute in the next two weeks. "It looks like that," he told reporters with a smirk on his face before dropping off in a Tesla Model S. If he was worried about what happened in court on Thursday, he probably didn't know.
Musical Visits Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo
While in the area, Musk visited Tesla's Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, according to a report from Buffalo News . What he did or said it is unknown, but as far as we know, this is the first time Musk has been at the factory. Perhaps he is taking renewed interest in SolarRoof, which will enter production once a year.
About the Author
Steve Hanley Steve writes about the technology-sustainability interface from his home in Rhode Island and anywhere Singularity can lead him. His motto is, "Life is not measured by how many breathing we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away!" You can follow him on Google + and on Twitter .
