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Case Yeh v. Tesla on privacy claims should be resolved in arbitration rather than in court, the U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero has ruled. This means Tesla would not have to face class action lawsuits.

Tesla owner Henry Yeh, who has accused the company of improperly accessing and distributing video recorded from his car, should pursue his privacy claims in individual arbitration rather than in a class action, a U.S. judge of District Court, Northern District of California has said.

The car owner originally agreed to an arbitration provision to resolve disputes with the company when he bought his Model Y online in late 2021, a judge said in his ruling Thursday. The decision means Tesla, at least for now, would not have to face class action lawsuits from a larger group of vehicle owners, according to Reuters. By its decision, Spero suspended consideration of Yeh's case until the completion of arbitration proceedings and did not delve into the details of the claim.

Yeh's lawsuit in April followed a Reuters report that Tesla employees used an internal messaging system to privately share videos and images captured on customer cameras between 2019 and 2022.

Tesla's lawyers said in a court filing that Yeh's lawsuit does not allege that Tesla improperly collected and shared data about its vehicle. The lawyers also said Tesla vehicle owners can disable camera data collection by following a few steps using their car's touchscreen.

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