Pumping the Brakes on Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover?

Hi, I’m Danny Karon, your Lovable Lawyer, here with your quick shot of legal wellness. By now, you’ve probably heard that a Twitter shareholder has filed a federal class action lawsuit against Elon Musk and Twitter over how they handled the chaotic acquisition process that’s still underway. The lawsuit focuses mainly on Musk’s tweet earlier this month that his deal to buy Twitter was on hold until it could confirm the accuracy of Twitter’s report that fewer than 5% of its accounts were spambots. The complaint alleges that Musk knew all about the fake accounts, yet he tweeted about spambots to lower Twitter’s stock price so he could renegotiate his deal. Twitter share price did drop by about 25%. So, one shareholder brought a lawsuit. But because it’s a class action lawsuit, it seeks damages, or money, for anyone holding Twitter stock during the alleged manipulation period. The suit also seeks injunctive relief, which is where a judge orders a defendant to do something. Here that could mean forcing Musk to purchase Twitter at the agreed upon price.

Now, what’s the next step? The next step is to try and dismiss the complaint. They ask the court to kick it out because they think the complaint doesn’t sufficiently allege that they did anything wrong. What the judge would decide is anybody’s guess, but if she denies dismissal, it’s a long road ahead. I just hope everyone has a full tank of gas. Well, I guess unless they’re driving a Tesla.

If you’d like to learn more about legal wellness, please subscribe to my YouTube channel or join me at yourlovablelawyer.com. Until next time, I’m Danny Karon, your Lovable Lawyer.