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Tesla's Musk seeks dismissal of cave rescuer's defamation case over his 'pedo guy' remark

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Jonathan Stempel, Reuters

Elon Musk, Tesla Inc&#x27;s chief executive, has asked a US judge to dismiss a defamation case a British diver filed against him for calling him a pedophile and child rapist following the latter&#x27;s involvement in the rescue of a boys&#x27; soccer team in a Thailand cave in July. In a filing on Wednesday with the US District Court in Los Angeles, Musk&#x27;s lawyers said their client&#x27;s comments about Vernon Unsworth were free speech protected by the US Constitution&#x27;s First Amendment even if they lacked any factual basis.They also said Musk&#x27;s &quot;over-the-top&quot; comments came amid a &quot;schoolyard spat on social media,&quot; including Twitter, where participants &quot;expect to read opinions, not facts,&quot; and that no one could have reasonably believed they were truthful.These statements were &quot;just imaginative attacks; even if offensive, such speculative insults are by their nature opinion and protected by the First Amendment,&quot; the lawyers said.Musk on July 15 called Unsworth a &quot;pedo guy&quot; in a tweet to more than 22 million Twitter followers, a comment for which he later apologized. He also urged a BuzzFeed News reporter in an Aug. 30 email to investigate Unsworth and &quot;stop defending child rapists.&quot;<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/09/18/18/teslas-musk-is-sued-for-calling-thai-cave-rescuer-pedophile">Tesla&#x27;s Musk is sued for calling Thai cave rescuer pedophile</a></li></ul>Unsworth has denied those allegations.He said he became a target after rescue divers declined to use a mini-submarine offered by Musk&#x27;s SpaceX rocket company. Unsworth told CNN the offer was a &quot;PR stunt&quot; and the device would not have worked.L. Lin Wood, a lawyer for Unsworth, rejected Musk&#x27;s defense, saying it would effectively doom all lawsuits over alleged false and defamatory attacks on reputation published online.&quot;Mr. Musk does not let the facts or well-established law get in the way of his novel but inaccurate contentions in his motion to dismiss,&quot; Wood said on Thursday. &quot;I am confident the trial court will likewise reject this fanciful position.&quot;A hearing is set for April 1, 2019.Unsworth, who lives in Hertfordshire County north of London, sought at least $75,000 in compensatory damages plus unspecified punitive damages in his Sept. 17 lawsuit.The soccer team, including 12 boys and a coach, was freed from the cave on July 10 after an 18-day ordeal.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/07/11/18/how-the-thai-cave-rescue-of-the-wild-boars-unfolded">How the Thai cave rescue of the &#x27;Wild Boars&#x27; unfolded</a></li></ul>Musk has faced other litigation over his Twitter use. The US Securities and Exchange Commission accused him of securities fraud for saying he had &quot;secured&quot; funding to take Tesla private for $420 per share, a big premium.On Sept. 29, Musk agreed to pay a $20-million fine and step aside as the Palo Alto, California-based electric car company&#x27;s chairman for 3 years to settle the SEC case.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/12/10/18/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-taunts-us-financial-regulatory-agency">Tesla CEO Elon Musk taunts US financial regulatory agency</a></li></ul>

Elon Musk, Tesla Inc's chief executive, has asked a US judge to dismiss a defamation case a British diver filed against him for calling him a pedophile and child rapist following the latter's involvement in the rescue of a boys' soccer team in a Thailand cave in July.

Elon Musk, Tesla Inc's chief executive, has asked a US judge to dismiss a defamation case a British diver filed against him for calling him a pedophile and child rapist following the latter's involvement in the rescue of a boys' soccer team in a Thailand cave in July.

Tesla's Musk seeks dismissal of cave rescuer's defamation case over his 'pedo guy' remark

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Tesla's Musk seeks dismissal of cave rescuer's defamation case over his 'pedo guy' remark

Jonathan Stempel,

Reuters

Published Dec 28, 2018 12:38 PM PHT

Read More:

Elon Musk

Tesla

Thai cave rescue

pedophile

pedophilia

Vernon Unsworth

defamation

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