Twitter Wins Bid For Quick Trial In Elon Musk Lawsuit

In a virtual hearing, Delaware Chancery Court judge Kathaleen McCormick granted Twitter’s request to expedite the trial, arguing the longer a merger transaction remains in limbo, the more “uncertainty” casts over the company, causing “greater irreparable harm” to the sellers.

At issue was whether the trial should be expedited, per Twitter’s request to force a resolution to the botched deal, or whether Musk’s team could receive a delay to conduct discovery on whether Twitter’s public claims about spam accounts are accurate in order to bolster his reasoning for withdrawing his bid.

Bill Savitt, Twitter’s top lawyer on the case, claimed Musk was “banking on” a justice “delay” becoming “justice denied,” while Musk’s lawyer, Andrew Rossman, fixated on Twitter’s calculations of spam accounts, arguing once again the company refused to offer Musk adequate data on bots and fake accounts.

Twitter’s top attorney argued the social media company’s calculations of spam accounts—which Musk has publicly questioned and cited as the reason for backing out of the deal—were irrelevant to the case because spam figures were not included in Musk’s acquisition agreement.

The public dispute continues to hurt Twitter by damaging the company’s reputation and leaving it “in limbo,” by “Mr. Musk’s design,” Savitt said, adding an “experienced counsel” could be prepared for trial in two and a half months.

Rossman, meanwhile, called Savitt’s claim that Musk was seeking to damage the company “preposterous,” noting Musk is the second biggest shareholder in the company.

Rossman argued Twitter’s proposed September trial schedule was “completely unjustifiable,” adding experts could not compile enough data in 60 days while arguing the company never received “an answer other than obfuscation, generalities and excuses” on Twitter’s calculation of spam accounts.