- Tesla’s suit against Alameda County over coronavirus shelter-in-place orders has been dropped.
- At the time of the suit's filing last week, CEO Elon Musk was threatening to move the company’s headquarters to Nevada or Texas because the county rules wouldn't let Tesla restart production.
- Since the filing, the two parties have come to an agreement and Tesla began manufacturing at the Fremont facility on May 18.
CNBC reports that Tesla's lawsuit against Alameda County has been dropped. The EV maker had filed the suit during a back-and-forth between the company and the county where Tesla's Fremont factory is located. Tesla wanted to reopen the plant sooner than the county would permit under pandemic regulations. Since the filing, the two parties have reached a compromise that includes allowing the Fremont factory to be open for manufacturing as of May 18.
The suit was filed on the same day that CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to announce that Tesla would be moving its headquarters (which is located in Santa Clara County, not Alameda County) to Nevada or Texas. The suit claimed that “the county is making rules that directly contradict and undermine the policy announced by the governor in his orders."
This was in reference to California Gov. Gavin Newsom's announcement that manufacturing in California could resume on May 8. The issue is that in California, when local and state authorities differ, the stricter mandate is the rule. Alameda had still not allowed manufacturing in the county at that time.
Eventually, the county and Tesla worked together to reopen the factory on May 18. Ironically, that was the original time frame that the two parties were working toward when Tesla decided to the sue the county.. Telsa filed for voluntary dismissal of the case on May 20. Meanwhile, Governor Newsom said in an interview Tuesday that he is "not worried" about Tesla leaving the state of California "anytime soon."