SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – Tesla is suing its home county over being classified as non-essential during the coronavirus pandemic.
The company filed its lawsuit May 9 in San Francisco federal court. It calls Alameda County’s decision to have the company shut down inexplicable.
The lawsuit cites Alameda County’s own frequently asked questions page that asks “My business installs distributed solar, storage and/or electric vehicle charging systems – can it continue to operate?”
That answer is yes but Tesla has been ordered to follow the shutdown order or face criminal penalties that the company says the county has no legal authority to impose.
“Thus, Alameda County has not only created a legal quagmire by wrongly declaring that its own orders trump the state-level orders, it has threatened jail time and significant fines for businesses and individuals that do not comply, even when they are clearly authorized by the State Order to continue critical infrastructure activities,” the lawsuit says.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California case number 4:20-cv-03186