A defamation case against Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk is set to go ahead in December after the billionaire chief executive lost a bid this morning to have the lawsuit thrown out, according to Bloomberg.
The case is being brought by British caver Vernon Unsworth, who played a key role in the rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a cave in Thailand last year.
Mr Musk, in a tweet that was later deleted, referred to Mr Unsworth as "pedo guy" after the caver criticised a plan Mr Musk put forward to use a rescue pod to retrieve the boys.
Later, in off-the-record comments emailed to a Buzzfeed News reporter, Mr Musk referred to Mr Unsworth as a "child rapist".
This allegation was reportedly based on unverified claims provided by a private investigator Mr Musk hired, who did not provide evidence to back up the claims.
Mr Unsworth sued two months later in a Los Angeles federal court, saying Mr Musk falsely branded him a paedophile and child rapist.
Mr Musk has argued that he did not know at the time that the information provided to him by the private investigator was false, and did not intend to publicly brand Mr Unsworth a paedophile.
His legal team has also previously argued that the term "pedo guy" was a common insult in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, and therefore not defamatory.
"Mr Musk testified that 'pedo guy' was a common insult used in South Africa during his youth," Mr Musk's attorneys wrote in court documents.
"It is synonymous with 'creepy old man' and aimed at mocking a person's appearance and demeanour, not an accusation of paedophilia."
But according to Bloomberg, US District Judge Stephen Wilson ruled at a hearing in Los Angeles this morning that a jury would have to decide whether Mr Musk was negligent for failing to check whether the statements he made on Twitter and in "off-the-record" emails were true.
The defamation case against Mr Musk has been set for December.
