A judge has ruled that Tesla acted fraudulently when it sold a California homeowner the initial $82,000 Solar Roof system, as a sanction for failing to turn over records. The ruling was not a jury verdict following a trial on the merits. The case is only now nearing trial, with compensation and any punitive damages unresolved.
According to Electrek’s reporting on the dispute, homeowner Ambrose Conroy has spent more than six years battling Tesla over the installation. His lawsuit alleges that the project ultimately caused $2.5 million in total damages. That figure is a claim, not a court award.
Tesla has conceded breach of contract and general negligence but fought nearly every other claim. The judge sanctioned the company twice for failing to produce internal documents, making its handling of evidence a central issue alongside the installation itself.
The withheld records may matter. As Electrek notes, earlier filings indicate that executives including Tesla’s director of model engineering, Bobby Yang, and possibly Elon Musk were being kept informed about the troubled project. Those filings do not establish what every withheld document contains, and Musk’s involvement remains a possibility rather than a certainty.
In 2020, Conroy agreed to buy a 13.1 kW photovoltaic system from Tesla. Solar Roof is a solar panel array engineered to look like discreet roof tiles, rather than conventional panels mounted above a roof. An installation expected to take a few weeks instead ran years late as compounding errors and logistical disasters threw the project into chaos.
A year into the work, costs had overrun by tens of thousands of dollars. At least seven project managers cycled through the installation, which Electrek’s account says made communication and accountability nearly impossible. By Spring of 2021, Conroy faced a $110,000 bill, nearly $30,000 above the price he had initially agreed to pay.
By April of 2022, Tesla was offering $5,000 to buy him out of the contract. Electrek’s account calls that offer paltry, since Tesla’s technicians had already obliterated the roof and left it covered in damaged solar panels. During the lawsuit, an expert witness testified that poor wiring in the installation created both short-circuit and fire risks.
Conroy then filed suit over the project. His experience also forms the basis for the source’s broader criticism of Solar Roof as a failed experimental product, an assessment it connects to reporting on its production failures.
The next stage will determine what Tesla must pay. The court still needs to resolve Conroy’s damages claim and whether to award punitive damages.
