Elon Musk’s testimony in Tesla lawsuit paused as lawyer vomits in jury box

The civil suit concerns Tesla’s $2.6bn merger with SolarCity

Elon Musk's testimony in a trial concerning his electric car company, Tesla, was interrupted when an attorney vomited in the court room, causing the trial to come to a temporary halt.

The civil suit concerns Tesla's $2.6bn merger with SolarCity.

The attorney was sitting in the jury box when they vomited, interrupting both Mr Musk's testimony and the broader proceedings for two hours while staff cleaned out the area.

The lawsuit claims that Mr Musk coerced Tesla's directors in rescuing the ailing solar company and then dictated the prices at which the company would produce its panels. At the time of the deal Mr Musk owned a 22 per cent stake in both SolarCity and Tesla.

Mr Musk has denied the allegations against him and has appeared to take the claims personally, lashing out at the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the case.

"Your questions are so deceptive," he said from the witness stand during questioning.

In a previous exchange Mr Musk called an opposing attorney a "bad human being”.

The lawsuit was brought against Mr Musk by a union pension fund and asset managers. The Tesla shareholders behind the suit want Mr Musk to return the value of the deal for SolarCity to Tesla, which could result in one of the largest personal judgments ever if the plaintiffs are successful.

Mr Musk was pressed in the trial over a set of notes taken by a financial advisor suggesting he offered the board a $28.50 share price for SolarCity, which contradicts his claim that he recused himself from the negotiations for purchasing the struggling company.

He claimed he was just making clear that any share price that could not be defended publicly from SolarCity would be rejected.

Mr Musk maintains he had "no material role" in directing Tesla's board to acquire SolarCity.

"Since it was a stock-for-stock transaction and I owned almost exactly the same percentage of both there was no financial gain," he said during his testimony.

Mr Musk’s interest in SolarCity was part of his plan to introduce more sustainable energy solutions into the production of Tesla cars.

Despite the claims that Mr Musk strong-armed his board into accepting the deal, he claimed he had a “good” relationship with the board and called them hard working and rigorous.

Legal experts believe the attorneys representing the plaintiffs will try to uncover evidence that Mr Musk forced his board to bend to his will.