By Jef Feeley
Twitter Inc is asking a judge to order Elon Musk to turn over all of his text messages from the first six months of 2022, saying the billionaire wasn’t cooperating in exchanging evidence ahead of trial in the fight over his $44 billion buyout offer.
The social-media company submitted the public proposed order in a Friday court filing in Delaware attached to a sealed request for sanctions against Musk and his lawyers.
The firm wants Delaware Chancery Judge Kathaleen St J McCormick to order Musk to produce all his text messages from January 1 until July 8, according to court filings. Twitter also wants texts from top Musk aide Jared Birchall for the same period. Birchall runs Musk’s family office and is thought to have been deeply involved in setting up financing for the Twitter buyout.
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Twitter’s attorneys contend Musk and his attorneys failed to act in “good faith” when it comes to producing the texts as part of pre-trial information exchanges tied to its lawsuit seeking to force him to consummate the $54.20-per-share deal. The platform and Musk have subpoenaed more than 100 banks, hedge funds and individuals to gather ammuntion for an October 17 trial in Wilmington, Delaware.
Musk’s lawyers Friday denied any wrongdoing connected to pre-trial information exchanges. They contend Twitter launched a campaign to hide witnesses with detailed information on the number of spam and robot accounts embedded in the platform’s customer based. Musk has made questions about those accounts the centerpiece of arguments he was justified in walking away from the deal.
“As Twitter’s efforts to hide information and witnesses have unraveled, they are now trying to distract with this nonsense,” Alex Spiro, one of Musk’s lawyers, said in an emailed statement.
According to the proposed order, Twitter also wants McCormick to order Musk to sit for a deposition about his legal team’s responses to Twitter’s questions about the deal.
The case is Twitter v Musk, 22-0613, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington)