Bryan J. Schwartz


Bryan Schwartz Law • Oakland


It took almost seven years, but plaintiff attorney Bryan J. Schwartz, the proprietor of Bryan Schwartz Law PC, in May obtained certification of a class of Black auto workers at the Tesla Motors plant in Fremont who allege racial harassment -- including repeated use of the N-word -- on the job.


The mammoth case could reach as many as 10,000 class members, making it the largest harassment class ever certified, Schwartz said. In another superlative, the defendant's CEO is the world's richest man, Elon Musk. Vaughn et al. v. Tesla, Inc. et al., RG17882082 (Alameda Co. Sup. Ct., filed Nov. 13, 2017).


Trial is set for Oct. 14, 2024. The outcome should provide class-wide findings regarding the plaintiffs' claimed pattern of pervasive race harassment and whether Tesla knew about it but failed to take corrective action, ruled Superior Court Judge Noël Wise, who in mid-July was under consideration for a Northern District judgeship.


"It's a big project," said Schwartz, who has assembled a plaintiff group that includes Lawrence A. Organ and Marqui J. Hood of California Civil Right Law Group, Matthew C. Helland of Nichols Kaster PLLP and David M. DeRubertis of The DeRubertis Law Firm APC. "At the trial, common issues will be resolved for the class. Then, class members seeking damages will have to prove them up at individual trials."


Schwartz said that as many a 500 individual damages trials could follow. "We're hoping the court will work with the parties to develop efficiencies such as trying cases in batches."


A lot of money could be at stake. The Vaughn case in state court follows an earlier federal Tesla race harassment case in federal court that led to a $137 million jury verdict, $130 million of which was punitive damages. That sum was reduced to $3.2 million in subsequent proceedings; Tesla has appealed. Schwartz and his group were not involved. Diaz et al. v. Tesla, Inc. et al., 3:17-cv-06748 (N.D. Cal., filed Nov. 22. 2017).


"There have been no moves toward settlement," said Schwartz, who has long complained about what he calls Tesla's "despicable and disgraceful scorched-earth litigation tactics while the harassment at the Fremont plant goes on unabated."


He added: "There were six rounds of briefing on class cert and multiple hours-long oral arguments. Tesla threw everything they had at opposing the motion, which we filed just a couple weeks short of a year before it was decided."


Schwartz said he's expanding his firm by adding three more lawyers this fall. He enjoys litigation, but said the Tesla case has taken its toll. "I don't enjoy the contentious nature of it. I'm constantly offended and outraged by Tesla's tactics. It's exhausting, but we'll stick with it as long as it takes."