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Tesla Motors co-founder Martin Eberhard, ousted from the company in November 2007 by then-chairman Elon Musk, has now filed suit in Califonria Superior Court against both Musk and Tesla Motors alleging slander, libel and breach of contract.

There’s apparently two kinds of Tesla employees — current employees and former employees suing Tesla. Frankly, we’re not surprised Eberhard’s suing Musk and Tesla. We’re more surprised that it took this long to happen especially given Musk’s propensity for diarrhea-of-the-mouth types of comments. For the moment, the only thing we have to go off of is the PDF file from the California Superior Court — which you can see here.

In response, we’re told Tesla plans to counter-sue Eberhard. That went over real well with Henrik Fisker — let’s see how well it works here. All we know is we’re just proud Eberhard quotes former-Valleywag Owen Thomas in his court filing. Gotta love the V-wag love! (Hat tip to Owen!)

Photo Credit: Yodel Anecdotal @ Flickr

The only thing surprising about Martin Eberhard’s latest move is that it took so long to happen. Eberhard was co-founder of Tesla Motors along with Mark Tarpenning, and he was ousted from the company in November 2007 by then-chairman Elon Musk. Musk has never been one to hide his feelings about other people (or much of anything) – and comments he has made about Eberhard and his role in the company have clearly not gone over well.

To nobody’s surprise, Eberhard has filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court in San Mateo against Musk and Tesla Motors. In the suit, Eberhard accuses Musk of slander and libel, along with breaching the contracts that he and the company had with Eberhard. At 146 pages, we haven’t yet had time to digest the entire complaint (though we do find it interesting that our coverage is mentioned in the lawsuit), but we have a sneaking suspicion this one is going to get ugly. You can read the filing in PDF form by clicking here.

ABG reached out to Tesla for comment, and spokeswoman Rachel Konrad provided the following statement:

“This lawsuit is a fictionalized, inaccurate account of Tesla’s early years — it’s twisted and wrong, and we welcome the opportunity to set the record straight. Incidentally, Tesla will also be filing counterclaims and in the process present an accurate account of the company’s history.”

More as it happens…

[Source: San Mateo California Superior Court]

Filed under: Tesla Motors

BREAKING: Martin Eberhard sues Elon Musk and Tesla for libel, slander and breach of contract originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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