US judge clears way for defamation case over Elon Musk 'pedo guy' tweet

A United States federal judge has stated that the technology entrepreneur, Elon Musk will face a defamation case after he referred to a British diver as 'pedo guy'. A Los Angeles judge, Stephen Wilson denied Musk's request on November 20 to throw out the case and cleared the way for the trial to begin on December 3. The lawsuit is followed by the Tesla tycoon's tweets of disagreements connected to the rescue of 12 boys from a cave in Thailand in July 2018 and called it a 'PR stunt'. 

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Opinion and not statement 

Wilson has denied all requests put forth by Musk and ordered that his comments will be seen as an opinion and not statements of fact. Two months after the incident, Vernon Unsworth filed a lawsuit against the tycoon accusing him of falsely branding the diver and denied those allegations. Musk had sought to dismiss the suit earlier by claiming that his comment was an insult, not an allegation. He further added that it was also a 'common insult' which was frequently used when he was growing up in South Africa. The claims made by the diver also include an email sent by Tesla CEO to an international news outlet urging them to 'stop defending child rapists'. 

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'Limited public figure'

Musk had also claimed in the federal court that Unsworth should be regarded as 'limited public figure' and that he had voluntarily injected himself into the public debate about how the trapped boys must be saved. In order to win a defamation case in US courts, the public figures like celebrities must prove actual malice on the part of the person who made the false statement, as opposed to a lower standard of negligence. However, since Wilson has ruled that Tesla CEO will not be protected from a defamation case because the allegations of calling Unsworth a 'paedophile' is not related to the debate about saving the boys. Alex Spiro, an attorney of Musk also said that they look forward to the trial.

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(With agency inputs)