Tesla’s founder Elon Musk filed a motion on Friday opposing Twitter’s request for a fast track trial over four days in September, according to a Reuters report. The social media company has taken Musk to court after the SpaceX founder terminated his $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter. 

In papers filed with the Delaware Court of Chancery, Musk’s lawyers argued that Twitter’s insistence on rushing the merger to trial in September was an “unjustifiable request” and should be denied. According to his lawyers, Twitter’s “spam bot” problem would be detrimental to the value of the company and that investigation into the issue would be both fact and expert-intensive. Musk’s lawyers are hoping to set the date for the trial in February next year.

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Twitter has rationalised its reason for an expedited trial in September saying that the deal with Musk will effectively be terminated on October 25. On the other hand, the filing’s made by the Tesla founder’s lawyers say that Twitter’s request is an attempt to “shroud the truth about spam accounts” for long enough to ensure that Musk has to close the matter. 

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The move is the latest in what many expect to be a protracted legal case between the two entities. Twitter is looking to ensure that Musk is forced to make the buyout after spending months dealing with low morale amongst users and a steadily declining share price. 

Last week, the tech mogul welched on the deal that he had struck with Twitter, despite having financed a significant portion of the money required for the buyout. Musk cited Twitter’s “spam bot” problem as the reason he was terminating the deal. 

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In response, Twitter filed a lawsuit against the SpaceX founder on Tuesday July 12, 2022 and is hoping that the Delaware court will order Musk to complete the merger at the agreed price of $54.20, roughly three dollars more than the share price at the time, which sat at $51.70.