Musk’s lawyers said in a court filing dated Monday that the caver, Vernon Unsworth, “inexplicably initiated” the spat and had not experienced any damage to his reputation from Musk’s comments.
“Mr. Unsworth and his reputation are no worse off. After Mr. Musk’s remarks, Mr. Unsworth continued to receive the adulation he craved from his involvement in the rescue,” Musk’s legal team said in the court filing. “The formerly unknown Mr. Unsworth remains the utterly undamaged Mr. Unsworth.”
In a statement then, Unsworth attorney L. Lin Wood said, “Elon Musk falsely accused Vern Unsworth of being guilty of heinous crimes. Musk’s influence and wealth cannot convert his lies into truth or protect him from accountability for his wrongdoing in a court of law.”
In this week’s court filing, Musk’s lawyers implied Unsworth sought to profit from their public war of words.
“This case represents Mr. Unsworth’s devious desire to milk the media coverage over what he instigated to reap a financial windfall from Mr. Musk, despite the absence of any injury. Mr. Musk will fight that,” the filing said.
Unsworth’s partner, Woranan Ratrawiphukkun, declined to comment on his behalf.
In response to Monday’s filing, Unsworth’s attorney said Musk was attacking his client because he could not dispute the fact that the accusations are false and defamatory.
“To assert that Mr. Unsworth’s reputation was not damaged by Musk’s false accusations of pedophilia hints of desperation and ignores the fact that the law presumes damage in such cases,” Wood told CNN Business by email.
The case is set to go to trial in October.
CNN’s Rebecca Wright and Rob McLean contributed to this report.
Source : Nbcnewyork
