Twitter is urging a Delaware court to grant its request for an expedited trial over Elon Musk’s nixed $44 billion agreement to buy the company – arguing the billionaire’s attempts to delay the proceedings are merely a stall tactic.
In a court filing on Monday, Twitter argued Musk’s “proposed schedule” that seeks to delay a trial until next spring was a “tactical delay” that was calculated to complicate and obfuscate.”
The social media firm, which instead wants the trial to take place on an expedited schedule in September, said it was “imperative” that the court grant its request for the “earliest possible trial date.”
“This very public dispute harms Twitter with each passing day Musk is in breach,” Twitter’s attorneys said in the filing. “Musk amplifies this harm by using the Company’s own platform as a megaphone to disparage it.”
“As set out in the complaint, Musk is using his consent rights to straightjacket the Company’s operations, and the overhang of his breach jeopardizes Twitter’s relationships with employees and customers,” the filing added.
The Delaware Chancery Court will hold a hearing Tuesday morning on Twitter’s request for an expedited trial. Twitter is attempting to force Musk to follow through on the merger agreement by court order.
Musk’s attorneys have requested that the trial begin no sooner than Feb. 13 of next year – asserting the billionaire’s camp needs the extra time to investigate concerns about the number of spam bots within Twitter’s user base.
The Tesla CEO cited the bot issue as a key factor in his decision to back out of an agreement to buy Twitter. Meanwhile, Twitter has argued that fake accounts comprise less than 5% of its user base.
Twitter’s filing also slammed Musk’s concerns about spam bots as a “a contractually irrelevant sideshow that Musk wants to use to disparage Twitter and prolong this litigation.”
Twitter noted that Delaware Chancery Court has “demonstrated that merger-enforcement disputes can be litigated in sixty to seventy-five days.”
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported on the filing.
As The Post exclusively reported on Monday evening, Musk’s team plans to file a counter-lawsuit targeting Twitter. A lengthy legal battle could add more pressure on Twitter’s stock, which has fallen steadily during a broader downturn in the market in recent months.
Kathaleen McCormick, Delaware Chancery Court’s chief judge, is presiding over the Twitter-Musk legal fight. She has the distinction of being one of the few judges on record who has ordered a company to complete a merger agreement they attempted to exit.
