Eberhard voluntarily requested that the suit be dropped, according to the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. The two parties in the case are declining comment, but Eberhard's lawyer told the business journal that more may become public about the case in late September. Speculation is that the two sides reached some kind of a settlement.
Court records show the case, CIV484400, was dismissed on August 7. Earlier, the judge in the case ruled that the lawsuit could proceed, rejecting preliminary motions by Tesla to throw the case out, according to records.
Eberhard was uncharacteristically silent about the dismissal on his Web site. The only recent posting was an update about his [Tesla] Roadster Foundry Mobile Charger business. "Rather than go into business making chargers, I have recently given the project to James Morrison's Electric Vehicle Components, and he is now building and selling these chargers," Eberhard wrote.
Tesla Motors also offered no word about the lawsuit on its Web site.
The lawsuit, which was filed in late May, claimed that Eberhard had been defamed by Musk, had received a damaged Tesla Roadster and that Musk was claiming credit for founding Tesla. Among other things, the suit claimed that Musk "endeavored to take ownership of the idea behind Tesla Motors by denigrating Eberhard's contributions." Eberhard said his personal Tesla Roadster was "delivered only after it had been smashed into the back of a truck by a Tesla Motors employee during a so-called 'endurance test' conducted on the dense and public 101 highway."
Eberhard left Tesla Motors on November 28, 2007. He was given a severance agreement that included a payment of $100,000, the grant of 250,000 stock options and a mutual non-disparagement clause. But he says the severance payments stopped after he posted an article on his blog that was critical of the company.
Inside Line says: The epilogue to this corporate soap opera has yet to be written, and more details may be forthcoming shortly. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
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