A lawyer representing Vernon Unsworth called Elon Musk a “billionaire bully,” and sought up to $190 million in damages but a jury decided in his favor anyway. They ruled that his series of tweets last year that referenced Unsworth as a “pedo guy” and promised a “signed dollar” if it was true were not defamatory.

Musk also called Unsworth a “child rapist” in emails to a Buzzfeed reporter, but the court case was not a judgement over that statement, or his decision to pay a private investigator $50,000 to investigate the man.

The diver became a target of the comments that Musk called a “common insult” after he disparaged Musk’s unused plan to involve a miniature submarine in the rescue of 12 boys and a soccer coach trapped in a cave. Unsworth participated in the rescue effort and is credited with helping recruit divers who helped bring the boys to safety.

It was later revealed that Musk hired a private detective to dig up dirt on Unsworth and then sent BuzzFeed News an off-the-record email, accusing the diver of moving to Thailand for a 12-year-old child bride. Unsworth denied the accusation and said his wife was 32, not 12, when he met her in London. He then sued Musk, who insisted in court filings that his “pedo guy” tweet was just meant as an insult. “Pedo guy was a common insult used in South Africa when I was growing up. It is synonymous with ‘creepy old man’ and is used to insult a person’s appearance and demeanor, not accuse a person of pedophilia,” the filing read.

The Tesla and SpaceX chief will now have to go to trial for the defamation lawsuit in December. A jury will then decide whether he was negligent for failing to ensure that what he said in his tweet and his off-the-record email were true. Unsworth’s lawyer told Bloomberg that the burden of proof for negligence is lower than that for actual malice, so it will be easier to convince the jury to find Musk liable for defamation. As for Musk’s lawyer, he said in a statement: “We look forward to the trial. We understand that, while Musk has apologized, Unsworth would like to milk his 15 minutes of fame.”

Elon Musk hasn’t had success avoiding a trial over his accusations that cave rescue diver Vernon Unsworth was a “pedo guy.” Judge Stephen Wilson has determined that the defamation lawsuit is strong enough to go to trial, with the court battle due to start on October 22nd. While Musk’s attorneys argued that he was just stating his “opinion,” the judge pointed to emails Musk sent to BuzzFeed where he made detailed (and unsupported) claims that Unsworth had a child bride. In the context, the judge said, an observer would likely conclude that Musk was making “assertions of objective fact” rather than sharing his thoughts.