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Elon Musk and Twitter will go to court on October 17, as requested by the defendant's lawyers, the judge ruled. If Musk's team can prove that Twitter lied about the number of fake accounts, then the platform could be held liable for fraudulently disclosing information in its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The hearing in Twitter vs Elon Musk will begin on October 17, in accordance with a recent request from the defendant's lawyers, and will last until October 20. Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick took into account the facts presented by the defendant earlier this week. Attorneys for 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.

“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 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.

© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.

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