Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) Files Lawsuit against Louisiana on Direct Car Sales

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) surged over 2.24% in pre trading session on Tuesday as it dropped 1.14% to close at $284.82 in opening trading day of the week as the company has filed a lawsuit against Louisiana, accusing the American state of acting in a protectionist and anti-competitive manner by refusing to allow the company to sell cars directly to consumers.

The case is the most recent effort to overturn state-level restrictions on the electric vehicle manufacturer’s direct sales, which avoided conventional auto dealerships. Customers in such states must travel to adjacent states in order to purchase Tesla automobiles.

By prohibiting direct sales since 2017 and attempting to impose restrictions on the leasing and service of its vehicles in Louisiana, according to Tesla, state and federal antitrust laws have been broken.

As per lawsuit that was filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, “Louisiana consumers’ freedom is being unduly restricted by protectionist, anti-competitive and inefficient state regulation.”

Tesla claimed that several Motor Vehicle Commission members, Louisiana dealers, and the dealer association were involved in an “illegal conspiracy to prevent Tesla from conducting business in Louisiana.”

Tesla also filed a lawsuit against Michigan in 2016 over the state’s restriction on direct sales. A settlement was struck in 2020, allowing Tesla to use a subsidiary to have its vehicles serviced in Michigan.

A former Twitter executive who has now become a whistleblower has been subpoenaed by Elon Musk’s attorneys as part of his continuing legal fight to renegotiate his $44 billion purchase agreement with the social media giant.

According to court documents filed on Monday, Mr. Musk’s attorneys want to speak with Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, Twitter’s former security chief, who previously claimed that the business is unaware of the number of bots using its network.

Before current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal took over as the company’s top executive, Mr. Zatko allegedly backed the platform’s development in Russia despite censorship and monitoring there.

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