And, the lawsuits also inevitably flow in the opposite direction.... Canadian manufacturer Magna has filed suit against Tesla Motors for failure to pay design fees related to continued efforts to develop a reliable 2-speed transmission.
When Tesla failed to get the necessary durability from the original X-Trac unit, they turned to Magna to develop a better design. Magna claims they told Tesla as far back as September 2006 that they should proceed with a single speed unit, but that advice was ignored. Tesla subsequently had Magna stop work on the 2-speed design in October 2007, and (according to Magna) did not pay for the design & development costs incurred.
Tesla then tried to create their own 2-speed unit, but production vehicles to date have shipped with a single speed configuration.
The legal filings are public and the San Mateo Court has them online at (search under the Business category for "Magna PowerTrain" or case number CIV470533:
http://openaccess1.sanmateocourt.org/openaccess/CIVIL/