Elon Musk wants time to prepare for a trial over his contentious withdrawal from an agreement to buy Twitter for $44 billion, according to a filing in a Delaware chancery court by his attorneys on Friday.
Musk’s team says the trial should wait until next year, after Twitter had requested expedited treatment and a hearing as early as this September.
In their filing, an opposition to a motion filed earlier by Twitter, Musk’s attorneys alleged the company made a “sudden request for warp speed after two months of foot-dragging and obfuscation,” and said this was Twitter’s “latest tactic to shroud the truth about spam accounts.”
An expedited hearing, Musk’s side says, would be an unfair tactic and a way to cover up the extent of the platform’s problems with fake accounts. Earlier this week, Twitter sued Musk, alleging the Tesla CEO was engaging a bad faith effort to back out of the deal.
Musk’s attorneys argued, “it would be an ‘extraordinary feat’ to try a complex busted deal case within even five to six months,” and they say “holding trial in February 2023 would balance the interests of the parties and the Court.”
Twitter was seeking a hearing within about 60 days.
Twitter declined to comment on the matter. Musk didn’t respond to a request for comment.