Aurich Lawson | Photo by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
Elon Musk has urged the Delaware Supreme Court to deny Twitter’s motion for a speedy trial, saying Twitter needs ample time to analyze spam account data. to work Twitter action It required a four-day trial to be completed in September 2022, Musk’s lawsuit said on Friday that the trial should begin on or after February 13, 2023.
“Twitter Engaged in Two Months of Tactical Delay in Resisting Defendants’ Data Requests…After two months of foot-dragging and confusion, Twitter’s sudden request for a speed bump is the latest tactic to hide the truth about its spam accounts long enough to defend itself. close. right,” said Musk’s move. Musk’s legal team argued that “the underlying controversy surrounding fake and spam accounts is central to Twitter’s value” and that “resolving these issues will require complex technical discovery, including forensics and analysis of big data.”
twitter On July 12, he sued Muskrequired him to complete the $44 billion purchase agreed in April. Twitter’s filing for a September 2022 trial period refers to the deal’s “Oct. 24, 2022 date for completion of the merger.”
“Expediting the court process is essential to provide this Court with effective relief and to provide sufficient time for the Delaware Supreme Court to review this Court’s decision,” Twitter said. “The September trial still leaves the parties and this Court with more than two months of pretrial discovery and briefing—a timeline tailored to the needs of this case and consistent with the accelerated schedules this Court has ruled in similar merger enforcement cases. .”
Musk controversies fall from the deadline
Musk disputed the need for the trial to be held before October 24. “Twitter’s extreme expedition proposal is based on the misconception that the Termination Date in the merger agreement is October 24th, and that date is October 24th. remained automatic if one of the parties applies to the court. By filing the complaint, the Plaintiff has demonstrated his probable need for a trial in September,” Musk’s motion reads.
The merger agreement states that if Twitter or Musk sues to enforce the agreement, “the Termination Date shall automatically be (i) the twentieth (20th) Business Day after the resolution of such action, suit or proceeding, or (ii) such other period will be extended until shall be determined by the court presiding over such action, suit or proceeding.”
Musk argued that “the only relevant date for the conclusion of the litigation” is to support the deal, which has an April 25, 2023 closing date for debt financing. even trying a complex deal for five to six months can be an “extraordinary feat.” “Twitter’s desire to squeeze the schedule into a fraction of that time is implausible,” Musk’s motion said.
The dispute “goes far beyond the significant complexities of a ‘broken deal’ type case and involves complex data science questions about the accuracy of Twitter’s disclosures about the number of fake and spam accounts,” Musk continued in his appeal. “The actual records of these submissions are likely to be sifted through hundreds of billions Review activities on Twitter and related selection and monitoring processes. The time required simply to download, process and analyze hundreds of terabytes of relevant data would exceed Plaintiff’s rushed schedule.”
Musk’s legal team estimates that the trial will “require at least 30 to 40 statements of fact and at least 12 expert testimony in total.”
