Summary:
- Elon Musk’s lawyers are looking to push the lawsuit Twitter filed against him to February 2023.
- Twitter has been pushing for a speedy trial stating that it only needed four days to prove that Elon Musk should follow through with his agreement to buy the company at $44 billion.
- The judge handling the case has a history of ‘no-nonsense.’
Elon Musk’s lawyers defending him against Twitter’s lawsuit seeking to compel the Tesla CEO to follow through with his $44 billion deal are reportedly seeking to push the trial to February 13, 2023.
Mr. Musk’s attorneys are accusing the social media company of fabricating numbers related to fake accounts and bots and have requested the trial to be pushed to next year to gather more information on the disputed data. They explain that ‘the core dispute over false and spam accounts is fundamental to Twitter’s value’ and that the process was ‘also extremely fact and expert intensive, requiring substantial time for discovery.’
At the same time, Twitter is seeking a speedy trial stating that it needs only four days in the Delaware Court to prove its case against Elon Musk.
Judge Handling the Twitter Case Against Elon Musk Has a History of ‘No-Nonsense’
According to Reuters, Judge Kathaleen McCormick, who is handling the case, has scheduled July 19th as the first hearing of the case. The 90-minute hearing will begin at 11 am ET in Wilmington, Delaware, and possibly provide more information on a probable timeline for the Twitter case.
Judge McCormick is one of ‘the few jurists who has ever ordered a reluctant buyer to close a U.S. corporate merger.’ Adam Badawi, a law professor in corporate governance at the University of California Berkeley, told Reuters that she was ‘a serious, no-nonsense judge’. He said:
She already has a track record of not putting up with some of the worst behavior that we see in these areas when people want to get out of deals. She is a serious, no-nonsense judge.
The Reuters team pointed out that Elon Musk has on many occasions been described as being brash, blunt, and even volatile. Judge McCormick is known to be soft-spoken, approachable, amiable, and a person who stands her ground. She also ‘advocates respect among litigants and integrity at legal conferences.’