{"id":1562023,"date":"2022-07-20T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T10:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1562023"},"modified":"2022-07-20T06:19:40","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T10:19:40","slug":"judge-sets-trial-date-for-elon-musk-legal-battle-with-twitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-sets-trial-date-for-elon-musk-legal-battle-with-twitter\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Sets Trial Date for Elon Musk Legal Battle With Twitter"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjudge-sets-trial-date-for-elon-musk-legal-battle-with-twitter%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1562023&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Tuesday hearing marked the conclusion of the first legal square-off between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-elon-musk\">Elon Musk<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-twitter\">Twitter<\/a>, during which the judge declared a trial date closer to the one Twitter proposed.<\/p>\n<p>Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the court of Chancery in Delaware presided over the hearing, ordering that a 5-day trial take place in October 2022.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reality is that delay threatens irreparable harm to the sellers,\u201d McCormick said in her ruling, referring to Twitter. \u201cThe longer the delay, the greater the risk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The court\u2019s Tuesday ruling is the first in the billionaire\u2019s high-profile legal battle with Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>The trial date the court prescribed is about a month later than the September 2022 expedited trial date Twitter requested and four months earlier than the February 2023 trial date Musk requested.<\/p>\n<p>The social media platform is suing Musk to force him to complete a $44 billion acquisition deal at the previously agreed price of $54.20 a share.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter sought a 4-day trial beginning on Sept. 19, 2022, an expedited schedule Musk\u2019s lawyers call \u201cunnecessary and burdensome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The hearing came after lawyers representing Musk requested on July 15 that the trial be held on or after Feb. 13, 2023, calling the proposed 7-month preparation already \u201can extremely rapid schedule for a case of this enormous magnitude.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Twitter disputed Musk\u2019s request in a July 18 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/22089151-twitter-court-filine-july-18-2022-2022-0613-ksjm\">filing<\/a>, saying the schedule would cause the social media company \u201cirreparable harm\u201d as the uncertainties associated with the case would negatively affect the company\u2019s public perception and employee retention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMusk offers no reason to think discovery must be so expansive that a trial must wait until next year,\u201d Twitter\u2019s attorneys stated in the July 18 filing. \u201cThe earliest possible trial date is imperative. This very public dispute harms Twitter with each passing day Musk is in breach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u200b\u200b\u201dMusk has been and remains contractually obligated to use his best efforts to close this deal,\u201d William Savitt, the attorney representing Twitter, said during the hearing. \u201cWhat he\u2019s doing is the exact opposite; it\u2019s sabotage.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Dispute Over Key Metrics<\/h2>\n<p>Musk\u2019s lawyers reinforced during the hearing their claim that Twitter, since the parties signed the merger agreement, refused to provide a key metric that determines Twitter\u2019s profitability\u2014the monetizable daily active users (mDAU)\u2014despite multiple requests from Musk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe core dispute over false and spam accounts is fundamental to Twitter\u2019s value. It is also extremely fact and expert intensive, requiring substantial time for discovery,\u201d Musk\u2019s lawyers said in a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/22089173-musk-filing-july-15-2022\"> filing on Friday<\/a>, adding that Twitter\u2019s refusal to provide this information drove Musk to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/elon-musk-files-to-exit-twitter-deal_4586582.html\">file to walk away<\/a> from the deal on July 8.<\/p>\n<p>Musk\u2019s lawyers assert that the mDAU metric is indicative of the proportion of bot accounts on the social media platform. An avid Twitter user himself, Musk previously <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1546344529460174849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1546344529460174849%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theepochtimes.com%2Felon-musk-reacts-to-twitter-lawsuit-threat_4589769.html\">alluded<\/a> on Twitter that the discovery may lead to more insights into the proportion of bots on Twitter and, therefore, the platform\u2019s profitability.<\/p>\n<p>During the hearing, Andrew Rossman, the attorney representing Musk, cast doubt on Twitter\u2019s public records showing the social media platform\u2019s proportion of bot accounts to be less than 5 percent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have reason to believe, based on what we\u2019ve seen so far, that the real numbers are significant for the 5 percent, your Honor,\u201d Rossman said. \u201cAnd that has enormous implications for the long-term value of the company.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, Rossman argued, the defendant is looking for a discovery period that would allow the defendant to examine \u201cdauntingly complex\u201d issues such as mDAU and other data-intensive metrics.<\/p>\n<p>Rossman added that the idea that Musk is \u201ctrying to damage the company\u201d or is effectively damaging it is \u201cpreposterous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has no interest in damaging the company, no matter what happens with this case. He\u2019s the second-largest shareholder with a far greater economic stake than the entire Twitter board,\u201d the attorney said in the hearing.<\/p>\n<p>Another issue contended between the parties is if the merger agreement\u2019s Oct. 24, 2022 \u201cdrop dead\u201d date\u2014a deadline stated in the contract\u2014passes without a finalized transaction, would allow either party to break away from the contract and warrant an expedited trial.<\/p>\n<p>Twitter accused Musk of attempting to run out the clock by proposing the April 2023 trial date. Musk\u2019s legal representatives contended that the \u201cdrop dead\u201d date would be void if either side of the contract initiated litigation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-gary-bai\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Gary Bai is a reporter for Epoch Times Canada, covering China and U.S. news.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Tuesday hearing marked the conclusion of the first legal square-off between Elon Musk and Twitter, during which the judge declared a trial date closer to the one Twitter proposed.Chancellor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1562023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1562023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1562023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1562023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1562023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1562023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1562023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}