Lawsuits are piling up against Tesla (TSLA) over the SolarCity (SCTY) merger, Tesla says ‘without merit’

Last month, we reported that Tesla disclosed that it was fighting 4 different lawsuits from stockholders over the SolarCity merger alleging breached of fiduciary duties in connection with the proposed merger . We now learn that the number has gone up to 7 lawsuits against Tesla CEO Elon Musk ahead of a scheduled court hearing to consolidate the actions on October 14th.

Tesla disclosed the lawsuits in an updated SEC filing on Friday and wrote that the company believes they are ‘without merit’.

Here are the 4 previously reported lawsuits:

• City of Riviera Beach Police Pension Fund v. Elon Musk, et al. , C.A, No. 12711-VCS
• Ellen Prasinos v. Elon Musk, et al. , C.A. No. 12723-VCS
• Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, et al. v. Elon Musk, et al. , C.A. No. 12740-VCS
• P. Evan Stephens v. Elon Musk, et al. , C.A. No. 1275-VCS

And the 3 new ones:

• Pyare Diwana v. Elon Musk, et al ., C.A. No. 12796-VCS
• Nguyen v. Elon Musk, et al ., C.A. No. 12804-VCS
• Wolf v. Elon Musk, et al. , C.A. No. 12805-VCS

There are no institutional investors involved in the lawsuits, but some of the actions are pressing for a class action against Tesla over the disclosure of the proposed merger.

As previously reported, these kinds of lawsuits happen routinely after the price of a stock is affected negatively following a particular event. In this case, the proposed merger between Tesla and SolarCity. Both Tesla and SolarCity faced similar lawsuits in the past, but what is particularly interesting is that it could affect the merger in this case.

Some of the plaintiffs are asking for an injunction to prevent Tesla from consummating the merger and the next hearing is set for October 14.

Tesla is expected to hold an event jointly with SolarCity on October 28 to unveil new products.