The judge presiding over Twitter's legal battle to hold Elon Musk to his $44-billion buyout deal said Wednesday the case was still on course for trial -- despite the billionaire's apparent U-turn.
Neither Twitter nor Musk have asked the court to put the
case on hold, so "I, therefore, continue to press on toward our
trial" set to start on October 17, Judge Kathaleen McCormick said in a
ruling.
McCormick ruled on motions regarding efforts by Twitter to
get hold of messages, documents or depositions that could be used as trial
evidence in Delaware's Chancery Court.
McCormick said in the ruling that Musk's side had failed to
provide Twitter with copies of all the messages he exchanged about the buyout
deal, and "likely" let some Slack messages be automatically deleted.
"If Defendants deleted documents after they were under
a duty to preserve, some remedy is appropriate, but the appropriate remedy is
unclear to me at this stage," McCormick said in her ruling.
She added that she will reserve judgement on the matter
until after the trial, when she has "a fuller understanding of the record."
Musk on Tuesday offered to push through with his buyout of
Twitter at the original agreed price, as the trial over his efforts to withdraw
from the deal loomed.
The Tesla founder said in a filing with the Securities and
Exchange Commission that he sent Twitter a letter vowing to honor the contract.
Conditions of his offer included halting the litigation, but
McCormick made it clear she had received no such request.
Given that Musk has already tried to walk away from the deal
once, the judge is expected to seek assurances that he will keep to his word
this time around.
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