Hacker News Reader

Comment by PragmaticPulp | Hacker News Reader

Was Tesla actually found guilty of something? The article suggests they never responded to the lawsuit and therefore a default judgment was applied:

> According to Norway’s Nettavisen, Tesla didn’t respond to the lawsuit and the 30 owners behind the case were automatically awarded 136,000 kroner (~$16,000 USD) each in compensation unless Tesla appeals to the case, which it has a few weeks to do.

The award amount comes to half a million dollars total. Might be cheaper to just write checks to the 30 people than to tie up corporate lawyers and possibly set a precedent of admission that could trigger other lawsuits.

View on HN

There could be over 10,000 Tesla owners affected by the update in Norway alone

I think you have misunderstood the potential consequences.

The ruling would not apply to the other 9970 owners unless a class action lawsuit is started.

3.. 2.. 1..

The article specifically says that only 30 owners were involved in the lawsuit and awarded damages.

The speculation about 100,000 more owners getting involved is editorialization from this blog, although I suppose some of them will be incentivized to do follow-on suits now that the award value is so high.

It may not be necessary for each individual to file suit or to join a class action lawsuit. It is called a fine in the article. Maybe the blog knows more than we do about the status of that.

A fine is a criminal sanction and this is apparently a civil case which means they were awarded compensation (and not a fine). Precedent is only set by the supreme court and in principle only in matters regarding interpretation of law. In this case, anyone else wanting money would have to file their own law suit. However, the case is not finally decided since Tesla may still respond.

Guilty is too loaded a term. “Civilly responsible “ is probably better in this case (pending appeal oc).

Responsible by default, which is not a determination on the merits, at least in common-law countries. I know nothing about Norwegian law.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com