[Mz]

Yeah, this does not feel good to me. I get the PR angle but this feels not right to me.

Wait until the trial is over and then give your side of things to handle the "court of public opinion" but this has potential legal ramifications and I don't think this is the right way to handle it.

Maybe I am wrong but it doesn't look like the right way to me.

[gkoberger]

The lawyer made a video that was very anti-Tesla:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUaelOgVXLe-1a3PUpob3upQ&...

Should Tesla have to just sit back and wait, while their name is being (probably unfairly) dragged through the mud?

[Mz]

Just because I feel this response is not the right response does not mean I am suggesting they shouldn't respond at all. But some of the points they make and the way it is framed look pretty bad to me.

I understand they feel defensive and unfairly attacked but there are better ways to handle things.

Edit: I will add that when I worked for an insurance company, some of the letters I had to write had to be reviewed by the legal department. So I have firsthand experience with writing PC pieces that need to stand up in a court of law, notify the customer of important info, admit no wrong-doing, etc. This is not just someone talking out their butt.

[pdonis]

> some of the points they make and the way it is framed look pretty bad to me.

I'm not sure I see why. I understand you're thinking about the legal ramifications, but reading between the lines of Tesla's blog post tells me two key things:

(1) They have logs of everything that has happened to the car. That means they have evidence to back up every factual statement in their blog post.

(2) They have records of all communications with the customer. That means they have evidence that shows that at least some of the factual claims made by the Lemon King lawyer (for example, the claim that three buyback requests were made prior to the lawsuit being filed) are false.

In other words, they believe that everything they said in the blog post will stand up in a court of law, should it ever come to that. They're just willing to make an effort to not have it come to that. (If the Lemon King lawyer had half a brain, he'd be tripping over himself to get his client to withdraw the suit after reading this post. Somehow I doubt that will happen.)

[ghshephard]

This is all about PR. The lawyer/client in this case are betting that Tesla will pay off their ransom/legal fees/damages rather than have their good name dragged through the court. They believe that most companies are run by people who are afraid of the "legal ramifications" of responding in public, and therefore aren't prepared to defend their name.

Tesla winning in court, but losing the PR battle is a 100% loss to Tesla - a court verdict is worthless if a bunch of unanswered stories have been written in the meantime.

This is why these lawyers can bottom feed like this - they know that they have all the power, and typically, companies will just pay them to go away and bother somebody else.