A Tesla whistleblower who raised safety concerns over a decade ago has secured a significant legal victory in her prolonged court battle with Elon Musk and his electric car company.
Engineer Cristina Balan, who was dismissed from Tesla in 2014 after flagging a braking-related design flaw, has seen her defamation case revived by a panel of appeal judges in California.
The latest ruling overturns a previous arbitration decision that had dismissed her claims, paving the way for the case to potentially be heard in open court.
Ms Balan told BBC News she now hopes to confront Elon Musk directly through fresh legal proceedings.
“We are hoping we will start a new lawsuit and we will have the chance to take on Elon Musk in front of a jury and judge,” she said.
Once a prominent figure at Tesla, Ms Balan’s initials were engraved on the batteries of Model S vehicles.
Her fall from the company began when she warned that curling carpets beneath pedals in certain Tesla models posed a safety risk.
According to her, managers dismissed her concerns, and she was subsequently let go. Though she later won a wrongful dismissal claim, her legal struggle was only beginning.
In 2019, she filed a defamation lawsuit after being publicly accused by Tesla of misusing company resources for a “secret project” — a claim she has consistently denied.
“I want to clear my name,” she told BBC News last year. “I wish Elon Musk had the decency to apologise.”
Her legal efforts were initially blocked when a court ruled the matter must go to arbitration under the terms of her employment contract.
The arbitrator sided with Tesla, citing California’s statute of limitations — arguing too much time had elapsed since the statements in question.
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However, Ms Balan challenged that ruling, and the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has now ruled that the lower district court lacked jurisdiction to confirm the arbitration award.
The appellate judges ordered the district court to cancel its confirmation and dismiss the action entirely.
Ms Balan revealed that she believes the ruling resets the case to “square one”, allowing her to relaunch her legal challenge.
She previously revealed she is in remission from stage-3B breast cancer and had feared she might not live to see justice served.
With the appellate court’s ruling, she now has renewed hope of having her day in court against Tesla and its CEO.
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