Elon Musk' Lawyers Say Twitter Dragged Feet on Deal and Now Want ‘Warp Speed' Trial
Elon Musk’s lawyers say Twitter Inc. officials are unfairly pushing for a “warp speed” trial over claims the billionaire improperly canceled his proposed $44 billion buyout of the social media company, and asked that the case be heard next year instead.
Musk’s legal team on Friday rebuffed Twitter’s argument that the case over the teetering transaction can be wrapped up in a four-day trial starting in September in Delaware Chancery Court, saying it will require “forensic review and analysis of large swaths of data” about Musk’s claims that Twitter’s customer base is riddled with spam and robot accounts.
Musk is requesting a Feb. 13, 2023, trial at the earliest, “an extremely rapid schedule for a case of this enormous magnitude,” he said in a 14-page filing, according to a representative for Musk. The judge will hold a hearing July 19 on whether to put the case on a fast track.
Twitter declined to comment on Musk’s filing.
The Twitter buyout agreement specifies that all legal disputes over the deal must be heard in Delaware, corporate home to more than half of US public companies, including Twitter and Musk’s Tesla Inc., and more than 60% of Fortune 500 companies.
Unlike some states, where it can take several years to get a case to trial, Delaware Chancery Court moves quicker. The judges, business law experts, are known for parsing legal thickets of complex merger-and-acquisition disputes fast and thorough. Complex business cases are often argued before a judge within six or seven months of being filed.
Until now, Musk hadn’t responded in court to Twitter’s allegations that he’s using the bots issue as a pretext to walk away from the $54.20-per-share bid he made for the company in April. The Tesla chief executive
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