Elon Musk wins in 'pedo guy' trial

Elon Musk won.

A jury in Los Angeles found that the Tesla founder was not liable for damages in a lawsuit brought against him by British cave diver Vernon Unsworth. The jury returned its verdict Friday after a four-day trial in which Musk testified for nearly six hours.

"My faith in humanity is restored," said Musk after the verdict was delivered.

Unsworth sued Musk in September 2018 for defamation after the Tesla CEO referred to Unsworth as a "pedo guy" on Twitter.

Unsworth lives in Thailand, and was an instrumental member of the team that rescued a Thai boys' soccer team from being stranded in a flooded cave in July 2018. Musk and a team of engineers created a mini submarine to assist with the efforts, which was ultimately not used. Unsworth criticized Musk's efforts to help as ineffectual and a "PR stunt" in a CNN interview. This caused Musk to lash out on Twitter with the "pedo guy" tweet.

In court documents, Unsworth asked for a minimum of $75,000, but his attorney, Lin Wood, suggested a total of $190 million in closing arguments on Friday.

The crux of the lawsuit is whether "pedo guy" was a literal accusation of being a pedophile, or if it was a generic insult. Under defamation law, "insults" are terms that a reasonable person wouldn't assume as literally true, so don't count as defamation.

Musk's attorneys argued that "pedo guy" just meant a "creepy old man." Unsworth's attorneys said that, thanks to Musk's stature and Twitter reach, the world now associates Unsworth with pedophilia.