Federal Judge Asks Tesla Drivers To File Individual Arbitration In Battery Range Lawsuit

(RTTNews) - The U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers advised the Tesla (TSLA) owners to file for individual arbitration under California's unfair competition law and other provisions, instead of a proposed class action, in the battery range case against the company.

The judge said that she could eventually issue an injunction against Tesla if the claims are pursued through individual arbitration.

Responding about the judge's ruling, plaintiffs' attorney said that Tesla's move to discard class action was an effort "to avoid classwide liability for its deceptive conduct."

The lawsuit was filed against the EV maker for fraudulently attracting customers through inflated advertisements regarding the distance traveled by the company's cars and SUVs on a single charge.

"Tesla marketed its electric vehicles as having a grossly overvalued range in an effort to increase sales numbers," the lawsuit argued. "Understanding that this would be an important feature to many customers, and preying on this fact."

Tesla discarded the allegations by calling them "unmeritorious".

However, an investigative report by Reuters revealed that Elon Musk's EV company had created a "Diversion Team" to cancel customer appointments regarding examination of battery range. "Tesla employees had been instructed to thwart any customers complaining about poor driving range from bringing their vehicles in for service," the report stated.

The report further found that Tesla algorithms show false mileage range projections till the battery power falls below 50, after that slightly accurate readings are shown.