A former elevator operator at Tesla’s Fremont Assembly plant, Owen Diaz sued the company for creating a hostile, racially abusive environment & was awarded $137 million by the jury last year. They were warned was winnowed down to just $15 million by a judge who gave Owen Diaz Two weeks to accept or reject the new amount and Diaz’s lawyers have taken the latter option.

Diaz’s lawyers wrote a statement, “In rejecting the court’s excessive reduction by asking for a new trial, Mr. Diaz is again asking a jury of his peers to evaluate what Tesla did to him and to provide just compensation for the torrent of racist slurs that were directed at him,”

This lawsuit was originally filed in 2017 and it described a work environment that was very toxic to black workers as they were regularly subjected to racial slurs and other abuse. One supervisor also allegedly told Owen Diaz to “go back to Africa”, There were also other issues that he also claims the company was very negligent in addressing. Tesla has also pushed back with some of the claims Owen Diaz made, They argued that it took timely action to stop the harassment, as well as claiming these racial slurs were used in a friendly manner and usually by African American colleagues. Also stated that they were not liable for any issues Owen Diaz faced as they were on contract.

A jury awarded Owen Diaz $6.9 million of compensatory damages and $130 million of punitive damages which were the largest payouts in a corporate racial discrimination lawsuit ever. US District Judge William Orrick rejected Tesla’s claims that were not liable for a contract employee, but also slashed the award, calling it very excessive, also reducing the number of compensatory damages to $1.5 million and punitive damages to $13.5 million. Since Diaz’s lawyers Have now rejected this award. The case will now continue to proceed to a new trial.