Diaz v. Tesla Inc.

Racial Discrimination

Northern District

U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick III

$136.9 Million

Plaintiffs Attorneys: California Civil Rights Law Group, Lawrence A. Organ, Navruz Avloni, Cimone Annmarie Nunley; Alexander Morrison & Fehr Llp, J. Bernard Alexander III

Defense Attorneys: Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton Llp,Tracey A. Kennedy, Patricia M. Jeng, Susan Q. Haines

Lawrence A. Organ

Plaintiff Owen Diaz heard the N-word frequently and was told to "go back to Africa" as he worked at Tesla's Fremont factory. Tesla said the slurs were uttered in a "friendly" manner and that Diaz actually worked for a staffing agency. A federal jury took three and a half hours to find for the plaintiffs following a week-long trial.

"Tesla said it had a zero tolerance policy, and we said it had a zero responsibility policy," J. Bernard Alexander III said in summing up his closing argument. "It was happening in your house and you looked the other way."

"The defense's problem was the pride of Elon Musk," added Alexander, who shared plaintiff counsel duties with longtime friend and co-lead Lawrence A. Organ. Alexander said that Tesla's CEO expected lead defense lawyer Tracey A. Kennedy to try a case full of "really bad facts" in hopes of avoiding the stigma of racism. Musk has now brought on Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP's Kathleen M. Sullivan for post-trial motions and appeals.

Lawrence A. Organ filed the original complaint in Alameda County Superior Court in 2017; it was later removed to federal court. Alexander joined the case in 2019. "We were pretty confident going in," Organ said. "We had a very strong, believable client and multiple witnesses who corroborated the conduct alleged. Tesla took a very arrogant position, claiming that even if it happened, they weren't responsible." Diaz v. Tesla, 3:17-cv-06748 (N.D. Cal., filed Nov. 22, 2017).

Organ and Alexander said they joined forces for several reasons. "We always talked about doing a race case together," said Organ, who is white. "I didn't pick him because he's Black, but it didn't hurt." Alexander said that after Organ clashed with the judge in pre-trial maneuvering, "It was better to bring me in to have a fresh voice do the opening and the close." They split the witness examinations. "We had three me-too witnesses and we put on one each day over three days," Organ said. "They immediately collapsed [Kennedy's] claim that there had been no N-word complaints."

Alexander noted that Kennedy too is Black and said that led to the irony of the jury hearing a Black advocate defend racist conduct. "She's a formidable attorney and she may have made the defense more credible. Juries don't want to believe racial discrimination exists, so it raised the stakes. But the evidence was there for us."

Kennedy and Sullivan did not return messages seeking comment. Tesla is currently seeking post-trial relief.

- John Roemer

Navruz Avloni

J. Bernard Alexander III