California Judge Clears Path For Musk vs OpenAI Jury Trial Set For March 2026 After Rejecting Dismissal Motion
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected OpenAI and Microsoft's final dismissal motions on January 16, 2026, clearing the path for a jury trial tentatively scheduled for March 30 in Oakland, California, as Elon Musk's fraud and breach of contract claims advance to court.
What Happened: Final Escape Route Blocked
The ruling marks a critical victory for Musk after OpenAI spent months attempting to avoid trial.
Judge Gonzalez Rogers stated during a 90-minute hearing on January 8 that "this case is going to trial," signaling she found sufficient evidence for a jury to consider Musk's allegations that OpenAI leadership made knowingly false assurances about maintaining the company's nonprofit structure. The judge said she needed to determine some trial logistics but made clear the case would proceed.
On January 16, the court officially denied the last-ditch dismissal requests from both OpenAI and Microsoft, according to Bloomberg. The trial is now set for late April, though some sources cite March 30 as the tentative start date.
The judge cited a 2017 diary entry by OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman as evidence supporting Musk's fraud claims. In private notes, Brockman wrote he couldn't "see us turning this into a for-profit without a very nasty fight" with Musk, suggesting leadership was already contemplating a commercial pivot while publicly reassuring the billionaire about nonprofit commitments.
Musk's lead counsel Marc Toberoff said the hearing confirmed "substantial evidence that OpenAI's leadership made knowingly false assurances to Mr. Musk about its charitable mission that they never honored in favor of their personal self-enrichment."
OpenAI dismissed the lawsuit as "baseless" and part of Musk's ongoing "harassment campaign" against the company he co-founded in 2015 before departing in 2018.
Why It Matters: Governance On Trial
The case represents one of the most consequential legal battles in AI history, with implications extending far beyond the personal feud between Musk and CEO Sam Altman.
At stake is whether verbal commitments made during a nonprofit's founding can be legally enforced when the organization later restructures for profit. OpenAI completed a complex restructuring in 2024 that valued the company at approximately $500 billion and transformed it into a public benefit corporation with Microsoft holding a 27% stake worth roughly $135 billion.
The trial will force OpenAI and Microsoft executives to testify about internal negotiations and strategic decisions that led to the for-profit conversion, potentially exposing private communications that could embarrass both companies. Microsoft's attorneys argued the tech giant had no contractual obligation to Musk and should be dismissed from the case, but the judge has yet to rule on that motion.
A key issue before trial is determining when the alleged fraud occurred, which affects the three-year statute of limitations on Musk's claims. Musk's team argues he wasn't properly informed of secret deals and continued donating as late as 2019-2020, while OpenAI contends any fraud would have occurred by 2017 when Musk contributed the majority of his $40 million in donations.
Judge Gonzalez Rogers indicated she would likely let the jury decide this timing question first, according to coverage from ABC News.
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