Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired
Twitter continues to play a foul game against Elon Musk. The platform is stalling on document production, depriving the defendant team of valuable time to prepare for the trial, which is due in October.
Attorneys for Elon Musk said that Twitter is slow-walking document production that is necessary to prepare for the trial. Delay is yet another unfair tactic, ahead of the October trial. In addition, Musk's attorneys also said in court on Tuesday that Twitter's attorneys refused to agree to the proposed trial date of October 17 and are pushing for the trial to begin on October 10, using the uncertainty over a trial date to delay other scheduling discussions.
Attorneys for Musk claimed that Twitter’s proposed case schedule is “an obvious attempt to squeeze defendants” after a Delaware Chancery Court judge agreed last week to hold an expedited trial in a lawsuit filed by Twitter, according to The Detroit News.
“Given the compressed timeframe, guidance from the court is necessary to break the impasse to allow things to move forward promptly,” Attorney Edward Micheletti wrote in asking Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick to grant Musk's proposed case schedule.
“Defendants’ efforts to make sure this case is trial-ready by October, have not been reciprocated by Twitter, who at every turn has sought to delay,” he added.
Micheletti also told the judge Tuesday that Twitter has refused to begin producing certain categories of documents that are “plainly relevant” and “easily collected and produced." He said Twitter lawyers instead have claimed that several categories of documents are not relevant, without identifying them.
The documents sought by Musk’s attorneys include Twitter board minutes and related materials, advertising sales and metrics, and manuals and policies regarding Monetizable Daily Active Usage or Users (mDAU). Twitter did not give Musk's team enough information about the number of fake accounts on the platform, but the company has estimated it has been consistently below 5% over the past few years.
Musk's attorneys also said that Twitter refused to provide them with raw data that it maintains in the ordinary course of business, and which requires significant “machine time” and software development to be processed and analyzed by expert witnesses by a proposed Monday deadline.
Musk's attorneys are asking McCormick to approve an October 17 trial date and to order Twitter to immediately produce “core documents” and to produce all raw data by Monday. “Given the timeline until trial, every day counts,” Micheletti wrote.
© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.
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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
