Tesla (TSLA) won an appeal removing class-action status from a lawsuit claiming it misled buyers about whether their car's hardware could support the self-driving package they bought, the US Court of Appeals said Friday.
The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a California district court erred in assuming that all affected buyers had seen Tesla's allegedly misleading hardware statement on its website. Nothing forced purchasers to visit the website page carrying it before completing a purchase, the court said.
Because that exposure cannot be assumed, common questions do not outweigh differences between buyers, including over when each could have sued, the appeals court said.
All three classes certified by the lower court were thrown out, it added. The ruling does not resolve the underlying allegations, and the lawsuit remains pending, while Tesla has denied the claims, Reuters reported.
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