Tesla to Sue California’s Alameda County Over Lockdown Restrictions

Alameda County, Calif. will soon have a lawsuit on its hands filed by Tesla. Its founder, Elon Musk, announced the lawsuit in a recent tweet.

Tesla Takes Alameda County to Court

Elon Musk has been outspoken about his opposition to the lockdown, which he views as excessive. Now, he plans to take these criticisms a step further and bring them before a court. He claims that Alameda County, where Tesla is headquartered, is defying state and federal laws by continuing to enforce its shelter-in-place order. In a recent tweet, he said that the “unelected and ignorant” Interim Health Officer of Alameda is acting against the law. He called it the “last straw” in a follow-up tweet. There are now plans to move Tesla HQ and its future programs to Texas and Nevada “immediately.” According to Musk, the relocation would be a major blow to Alameda County since it is the last carmaker in the state.

Elon Musk Says No to the Lockdown

Elon Musk has been outspoken in his criticisms of the lockdown practices enacted by state and local authorities in the U.S. He initially called the coronavirus pandemic ‘dumb’ but was forced to make cuts to workers’ pay in early April. In mid-April, he got into a public spat with CNN over its ‘fake news’ story regarding missing ventilators.  The criticisms continued well into May. Earlier this month, Musk went on a tweet spree calling for governments to give people back their freedom. He also tweeted that Tesla’s stock price is “too high,” which caused its valuation to drop, much to the ire of investors. Tesla was among the best-performing stocks until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. In fact, it was racing along with Bitcoin to be 2020’s best-performing asset. However, Bitcoin has exceeded Tesla stock thus far in 2020 in anticipation of its halving. Bitcoin is currently trading just above $9,600 after failing to sustain itself above the $10,000 price point.