Tesla whistleblower, Cristina Balan, who has spent years battling Elon Musk and his automobile company in court, has secured a major victory in her ongoing legal fight. She has won the latest round of the battle against him, the BBC reported. Balan was terminated in 2014 after she raised safety concerns about a design flaw she believed could compromise the braking system of Tesla vehicles.
Cristina Balan had filed a defamation case against Tesla and Elon Musk, claiming that her reputation was damaged. However, her case appeared to have hit a dead end when a judge upheld an arbitration ruling dismissing her claims. However, a California appeals court panel has now overturned that decision, and she can continue her legal fight against Musk and his company.
“We vacate the order confirming the arbitration award and remand this action to the district court with instructions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction,” the court noted.
After winning the appeal, she wrote, “I won. I won the appeal against Elon Musk and Tesla. First appeal, Musk and Tesla lost… First ex-Tesla immigrant woman engineer who fought Musk as a Pro Se!”
For the ones of you who wants to read the Published OPINION who will now be on all law books moving forward here is the link to the 9th circuit Opinion.
— Cristina Balan – STOP Forced Arbitration (@CristinaIBalan) April 14, 2025
An opinion that ends like this https://t.co/yDFgZSXBm9 pic.twitter.com/nPrQK6Zofy
“I cannot wait to see Musk and his goons on the stand and see how they will explain their lies and hate against me for doing the right thing,” she wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Balan, who is a former engineer at Tesla, has her initials engraved on the batteries used in Model S vehicles.
“We are hoping we will start a new lawsuit and we will have the chance to take on Elon Musk in front of a jury and judge,” she told the BBC, adding that she is fighting not just for herself, but to clear her name for the sake of her son.
Balan, who is currently battling stage 3B breast cancer, admitted she feared she might not survive long enough to see her case reach a final verdict in court.
The Tesla whistleblower said that some carpets under the pedals in some Tesla vehicles were curling up in Tesla models. However, her concerns were dismissed, and she was eventually fired from her job. Balan later filed a lawsuit against wrongful termination and won.
In 2019, Balan sued Tesla for defamation after the company accused her of working on a “secret project” using Tesla resources. She has consistently denied the claim and said her goal is to clear her name.
A court then ruled that her case must be handled through arbitration, a private, less formal legal process, because she had signed a contract while working at Tesla that required disputes to be resolved this way instead of going to a regular court.
Although the arbitration dismissed her case, citing California’s statute of limitations, Tesla moved to have the ruling confirmed by a district court. Balan appealed, and the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sided with her, ruling the district court lacked jurisdiction. The appellate court ordered the arbitration confirmation nullified and the case dismissed from that court.