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Comment by threeseed | Hacker News Reader

> And they suggested that Unsworth was looking for a payday in court

I think this is the key issue. $190m is clearly exorbitant for a defamation lawsuit.

Shame because Musk crossed the line and an example needed to be set that corporate executives should be held to account for their actions.

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The jury can award an amount they feel is appropriate. There are actual, measurable damages involved in a case like this, then there are punitive damages that are awarded with the intent to deter future behavior like this.

EM's net worth is in the $20 billion neighborhood. Knocking off a few zeros, that's like a $190 judgement against a person who's worth $20,000.

I don't think it was the key issue. Look at defamation suits in the US, they are notoriously hard to prove defamation. Here are some examples that highlight how hard it is for a plaintiff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_defamation_law#N...

Just because Musk is a corporate executive doesn't mean he loses the right to insult others.

The problem for me was this was right on the borderline because I was anticipating that Elon Musk really did know "something".

If Musk really did know something, his insult would have included that something.

I had an uncertain read because I could believe that Elon with his vast resources knew something, and I couldn't understand why Elon would risk complicating his leadership of his companies without some grounding.

If I understand correctly, in the Ninth Circuit, the fame and affluence of the speaker does not matter, but instead the notoriety of the alleged defamed.

I agree, I am a Elon fan. But if the lawsuit was a million dollars or less Elon should have to pay, 190 million is sheer greed. Even if the term is different where he came from, he knows international communications can be tricky.

Just ask the people Tesla fans have made fun of for trying to sell the ETron in France.

A million is peanuts for Musk. Would you feel deterred if you had to pay $1 every time you want to defame someone?

Wasn't this trial an example of him being held accountable?

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