Elon Musk Blocks Twitter's Request For An Expedited Trial

Tesla CEO filed a motion opposing Social media platform Twitter Inc's request to fast-track a trial over his plan to terminate his $44 billion deal.

It is the latest move in what promises to be a significant legal showdown between Twitter and Musk. The San Francisco-based company seeks to resolve months of uncertainty for its business as Elon Musk tries to walk away from the deal for what he says is Twitter's "spam bot" problem.

Twitter sued Musk on Tuesday for violating the deal to buy the social media platform. Delaware court ordered the world's richest person to complete the merger at the agreed price of $54.20 per share.

The company requested the trial begin in September because the merger agreement with Musk terminated on Oct. 25.

Musk's lawyers argued the dispute over false and spam accounts is fundamental to Twitter's value and extremely fact- and expert-intensive. They said it would require substantial time for discovery and requested a trial date on or after Feb. 13 next year.

"Twitter's sudden request for warp speed after two months of foot-dragging and obfuscation is its latest tactic to shroud the truth about spam accounts long enough to railroad defendants into closing," Musk's filing said.