A lawyer for Elon Musk objected at trial Friday to a judge’s friendly rapport with Ned Segal, the housing czar in San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s administration.
Musk is defending himself against claims that he defrauded investors in his acquisition of Twitter, now called X. Segal is the former chief financial officer of Twitter. US District Judge Charles Breyer, a longtime San Francisco federal court judge, told Segal, while he was on the witness stand, to say hello to Lurie for him. The exchange was made off-record, not in front of the jury deciding the case.
Michael Lifrak approached the objection gingerly, saying he was doing it with all due respect for the court. Nonetheless, Lifrak said, he wanted to put his concern on the court record. The implication was that the relationship reflects bias that could work against Musk, an issue that could be raised to an appeals court if the billionaire loses, in an attempt to reverse any verdict against him.
Breyer, as he is wont to do, launched into an explanatory dialogue.
“I know the mayor, I know him personally,” Breyer said. Segal, he added, is an employee of the mayor. (Segal is the city’s chief of housing and economic development). “I asked him to please say hello to the mayor for me.”
Breyer sarcastically added other benign facts that might be put into court record, including that he has owned a series of Teslas. “I think they’re wonderful cars. Should I put that on the record?” Breyer said that he’s ruled for and against Tesla in other cases, and against X, too. “So have all of my colleagues in the Northern District of California, by the way.”
Breyer wondered aloud if the fact that he knows Lurie might, as Lifrak suggested, deny Musk a fair trial? “That may be your view, I can’t argue with your view,” the judge said, and then went on to do exactly that. “Your views may be correct or incorrect… I’m making sure he gets a fair trial here.”
If Musk’s legal team is going to make these “allegations,” Breyer said, “with all due respect, they should be balanced; there are things I’ve done in Mr. Musk’s favor.” The trial record will reflect the objection, Breyer said, and Musk can ask an appeals court to hear the objection raised.
Breyer concluded by saying it “takes a certain act of courage” for the attorney to raise the objection to a judge overseeing an unfinished trial. “Don’t be concerned,” Breyer said. “I’ve got my job, it’s OK. I can take it. I can sleep at night. I can enjoy what I’m doing… It’s not going to affect any of my rulings, I can assure you of that.”
