Elon Musk countersued Twitter on Friday, escalating his authorized combat in opposition to the social media firm over his bid to stroll away from the $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3.5 lakh crore) buy, though the lawsuit was filed confidentially.

While the 164-page doc was not publicly out there, below courtroom guidelines a redacted model might quickly be made public.

Musk’s lawsuit was filed hours after Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery ordered a five-day trial starting Oct. 17 to find out if Musk can stroll away from the deal.

Twitter didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Also on Friday, Musk was sued by a Twitter shareholder who requested the courtroom to order the billionaire to shut the deal, discover that he breached his fiduciary obligation to Twitter shareholders and award damages for losses he precipitated.

Musk owes a fiduciary obligation to Twitter’s shareholders due to his 9.6 p.c stake within the firm and since the takeover settlement provides him a veto of most of the firm’s choices, in accordance with the lawsuit, which seeks class standing. The lawsuit was filed by Luigi Crispo, who owns 5,500 Twitter shares, within the Court of Chancery.

Musk, the world’s richest particular person and chief govt of Tesla, mentioned on July 8 that he was abandoning the takeover and blamed Twitter for breaching the settlement by misrepresenting the variety of pretend accounts on its platform.

Twitter sued days later, calling the pretend account claims a distraction and saying Musk was certain by the merger contract to shut the deal at $54.20 (practically Rs. 4,500) per share. The firm’s shares ended on Friday at $41.61 (practically Rs. 3,500), the very best shut since Musk deserted the deal.

McCormick fast-tracked the case to trial final week, saying she wished to restrict the potential hurt to Twitter brought on by the uncertainty of the deal.

Twitter has blamed the courtroom combat for slumping income and inflicting chaos throughout the firm.

The two sides had principally agreed to an Oct. 17 trial, however have been at odds over the bounds of discovery, or entry to inside paperwork and different proof.

Musk accused Twitter this week of dragging its ft in response to his discovery requests, and Twitter accused him of in search of enormous quantities of knowledge which can be irrelevant to the principle situation within the case: whether or not Musk had violated the deal contract.

The chief choose in her order on Friday appeared to anticipate discovery disputes to come back.

“This order does not resolve any specific discovery disputes, including the propriety of any requests for large data sets,” mentioned McCormick.

Musk additionally faces a week-long trial in Wilmington, Delaware, starting Oct. 24. A Tesla shareholder is in search of to void as company waste and unjust enrichment the CEO’s record-breaking $56 billion (roughly Rs. 4.5 lakh crore) pay bundle from the electrical car maker.

© Thomson Reuters 2022