FRESNO, California - In the 18 years of Tesla's presence in the vehicle manufacturing sphere, the company seems to have been at the center of one controversy after another. 

From founder, Elon Musk's unconventional approach to his leadership role to concerns about the safety of Tesla's vehicles, the company has seen its fair share of issues.

One of the most recent firestorms resulted in a federal court ordering Tesla to pay a former employee nearly $137 million in damages.

According to the BBC News, Owen Diaz worked at Tesla's Fresno plant as a lift operator from 2015 until 2016 and Diaz says during his time with the company, he was repeatedly abused in a racially hostile work environment. 

In Diaz's lawsuit against Tesla, the former employee reported a series of disturbing incidents that he said were tantamount to "a scene straight from the Jim Crow era."

Diaz claimed he frequently heard racist slurs on the factory floor, and reported that he became the target of racist remarks when colleagues told him to, "go back to Africa."

He also alleged that employees drew swastikas and left racist graffiti and drawings around the plant. All the while, supervisors reportedly took no action to stop the abuse.

The racial slurs and targeted taunts continued, even after supervisors were approached with complaints.

A federal court in San Francisco on Monday awarded Diaz $6.9 in damages for emotional distress and $130 million in punitive damages, according to the Washington Post.

Though Tesla disputed the verdict, a company representative admitted that Tesla's operations were "not perfect."

The BBC cited a message to employees shared on Tesla's website wherein the firm's vice president of people, Valerie Capers Workman, said she "strongly" believed the verdict was unjustified. 

She went on to say the carmaker responded in a "timely" way to Diaz's complaints.

Workman stated, "We do recognize that in 2015 and 2016 we were not perfect. We're still not perfect. But we have come a long way from five years ago."

Workman also said the company has since formed an employee relations team tasked with investigating complaints. 

This is in addition to the creation of a diversity team that focuses on providing equal opportunities to individuals of all backgrounds within Tesla.

Following Monday's decision, one of Diaz's attorney's implied that the court made the right choice, saying, "It's gratifying to know that a jury's willing to hold Tesla accountable, one of the world's largest, richest corporations finally is told, 'You can't let this kind of thing happen at your factory."