Nick Caldwell, a Former Twitter executive, has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk and X, claiming a breach of contract and unpaid severance benefits after leaving the company in 2022.
According to a lawsuit filed in a California federal court on Wednesday, lawyers representing Caldwell alleged that the company unfairly withheld severance benefits totaling $200 million by falsely accusing Caldwell and other executives of misconduct and terminating them for a Cause, after acquiring Twitter for $44 billion that same year.
Caldwell's lawsuit echoes a similar legal action brought by former Twitter executives, including former CEO Parag Agrawal, who claimed unpaid severance amounting to $128 million.
READ ALSO: Former Twitter Executives Get Back at Elon Musk, Demands $128M Over Unpaid Severance Packages
Caldwell's Resignation for A Good Reason
Caldwell currently serves as the Chief Product Officer for Peloton and holds positions on the boards of various other tech ventures, as indicated on his LinkedIn profile. He previously managed a team of hundreds of engineers as the General Manager of the Red Bird organization at Twitter, responsible for core technology. Caldwell worked until its acquisition was finalized and submitted a resignation letter to the company "for good reason" on October 28, 2022.
Musk tweeted a video of his arrival at Twitter's headquarters two days prior, captioning it: "Entering Twitter HQ-let that sink in!" Musk later renamed the company X.
Caldwell's attorneys argued that Twitter accepted his resignation, activating the "Twitter Change of Control and Involuntary Termination Protection Policy," designed for executives departing the company in good standing.
Twitter Falsely Accusing Caldwell of Misconduct
Twitter informed Caldwell that November 27 would be his last day of employment, a month after he submitted his resignation letter. Twitter immediately revoked his access to internal systems and discontinued communications with him. According to the filing, Twitter alleged that Caldwell had been terminated for cause.
His attorneys wrote that Musk simply accused Caldwell of misconduct without any factual basis to avoid paying him the millions of dollars in severance benefits owed by Musk/Twitter to Caldwell.
The lawsuit highlights that Musk enlisted several relatives, investors, and current and former employees from his other companies, SpaceX and Tesla, some of whom were involved in denying the severance claims filed by Caldwell and the other executives as part of the severance benefit plan administration process.
The lawsuit names Brian Bjelde and Lindsay Chapman, employed at SpaceX, and Dhruv Batura, who formerly worked in finance at Tesla, as defendants alongside Musk.
The Lawsuit's Demand
Caldwell's attorneys state in the filing that their client is owed approximately $19.3 million in severance benefits, along with interest and around half a million dollars, representing the value of restricted stock units that he should have received in November 2022, which is also claimed, along with interest of approximately $3 million, plus attorneys' fees.
Musk and X did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Caldwell's attorneys declined to comment and referred CNBC to the filing instead.
A few days before he resigned from Twitter, Caldwell shared a post on social media announcing the sudden passing of his wife and soulmate, Tia Caldwell, on October 15. She was 39 years old and had lived a full, beautiful, and accomplished life filled with love. However, the suit does not mention the death of his wife.
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