Caver may seek retrial over Musk ‘pedo’ slur
LAWYERS for a British caver are considering an appeal following his libel case loss to Elon Musk.
Vernon Unsworth, 64, said he would take the jury’s verdict ‘on the chin’ but his legal team said a retrial was an option.
The potholing expert who helped rescue a football team from flooded caves had been seeking around £114million in damages after the 48-year- old billionaire called him ‘pedo guy’.
Mr Unsworth had rejected Mr Musk’s offer of help with the Thai rescue mission, telling him he could ‘stick his [prototype] submarine where it hurts’.
The Tesla chief hit back with his ‘pedo’ insult in a tweet he later deleted. He then said: ‘I f****** hope he sues me.’
Mr Unsworth’s lawyers said Friday’s ruling by a Los Angeles jury that Mr Unsworth had not been defamed would open the doors for online attacks to go unpunished.
Lin Wood warned that social media was ‘tearing at the fabric of society’ and the verdict would worsen that trend. ‘It is now said by this jury that insults are completely open season,’ he said.
‘Everyone should be concerned about their reputations. Goliath wins almost every time.’
Mark Stephens, Mr Unsworth’s British lawyer, said: ‘If this verdict stands, it gives anyone, from billionaire bullies to penniless trolls, leave and licence freely to make false allegations of criminality on social media.’
Mr Stephens called Mr Musk a ‘bullying billionaire’, adding: ‘We came here because Mr Musk said
“sue or true”. We came here, we sued and where we have got to is finally Alex Spiro [Mr Musk’s attorney], with Mr Musk sitting at his side, admitting that the allegations he made were untrue.
‘And it is a pity a bullying billionaire has been able to cast such a long shadow and I just hope that nobody else has to go through and go toe to toe with Mr Musk again.
‘He’s obviously put an enormous amount of resources into it.’
Carl Shusterman, a 70-year-old immigration lawyer who sat on the eight-strong jury, said he was not impressed by either side and likened them to squabbling teenagers. ‘We were pretty much unanimous from the word go,’ he said.
‘I felt it was like two junior high school students fighting.’ He said there was no need for Mr Unsworth to put down Mr Musk’s mini submarine, and the tycoon’s response was equally immature.
The jury said they were swayed by the fact Mr Musk did not specifically name Mr Unsworth in his tweet. Foreman Joshua Jones said the panel decided Mr Unsworth’s lawyers had failed to prove their case and spent too much time trying to appeal to emotion.
Mr Unsworth, who was a key part of the team that rescued 13 football club members in July 2018, was awarded an MBE this summer. A financial adviser from St Albans, he divides his time between the UK and Thailand.
‘Allegations of criminality’