Tesla vs. Zhang A Dispute over Reputation Rights
TapTechNews May 30, reported by The Paper. The case of the dispute over reputation rights between Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and Ms. Zhang was pronounced in the first instance today. The case number is (2021) Hu 0118 Minchu 17510, the plaintiff is Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., and the defendant is Ms. Zhang.
It is learned that the People's Court of Qingpu District, Shanghai made a first-instance judgment on this case this afternoon: Ms. Zhang publicly issued an apology statement and compensated Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. for all losses totaling 172,275 US dollars.
During the Shanghai Auto Show on April 19, 2021, Ms. Zhang, the owner of a Tesla car, climbed onto the roof of an exhibition car on the spot and shouted "Tesla brake failure", which once aroused heated discussions from all parties.
TapTechNews sorted out the following key points of the judgment:
In this case, Ms. Zhang did not provide any evidence to prove that the vehicle involved really had the fault of brake failure. She also clearly admitted in the trial that the brake failure claimed when implementing the act involved was her subjective judgment, and Tesla had never admitted this fact.
During the trial of the case, Ms. Zhang did not apply for judicial expertise on whether there was brake failure in the vehicle involved. Therefore, according to the principle of "whoever claims, who proves", it should be Ms. Zhang who bears the legal consequence of failure to prove.
According to the determination of the public security organ, the cause of the traffic accident involved in the case is that the person involved in the case driving the vehicle involved did not keep a safe distance sufficient to take emergency braking measures from the vehicle in front, so he was fully responsible for the accident.
Therefore, under the circumstance that Ms. Zhang rashly implemented the act involved without any objective basis to prove that the vehicle involved had brake failure, it constituted a slanderous act. The defense opinion that Ms. Zhang considered her act not to be a slanderous act was not accepted by the court.
Ms. Zhang, knowing that there was no conclusive basis, when expressing opinions to the public, not only did not pay attention to being objective and fair in wording, but deliberately chose the media day of the Shanghai Auto Show to the Tesla booth area, made and wore a T-shirt printed with the words "brake failure" in advance, climbed onto the roof of the exhibition car and shouted "Tesla brake failure", deliberately using the on-site media to quickly and widely spread this unsubstantiated information.
Her words and deeds obviously have the subjective intention and fault of defaming the reputation of Tesla Shanghai Company. The defense opinion that Ms. Zhang put forward that she did not have subjective fault was not accepted by the court.
Related reading:
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"The second instance of the case of the owner of the car on the roof suing Tesla was opened, and the parties said that new evidence was added".
"After being judged to lose the lawsuit in the first instance for suing Tesla, the female owner of the car on the roof continues to appeal".
"Tesla sued the "female owner of the car on the roof" and claimed 5 million US dollars, and the owner counterclaimed in court".