Twitter’s lawsuit against Elon Musk for attempting to exit the $44 billion buyout deal has been officially set by Judge Kathaleen McCormick to take place between October 17th and October 21st of this year.

The situation remains complex. Twitter’s lawyers insist that the platform has already turned over all the requested information pertaining to spam and robot accounts to Musk, so there’s no reason for him not to consummate the acquisition. Musk counters that the bots material has not been robust and the company’s mishandling of that data provides a legitimate basis for his cancellation of the buyout. 

The court date has also led to inevitable conflict. Musk’s team initially tried to get a 2023 court date, then an October 10th court date. For Twitter, an earlier date and an expedited trial were preferred because of how much the situation has affected their Q2 earning results, and because Twitter’s shareholders are scheduled to vote on the deal in a special meeting on September 13th at 1PM ET. To this effect, Musk may have to pay $1 billion in damages for wreaking havoc on Twitter’s share price and reputation.

In court submissions, the company stated: “Twitter repeatedly informed Musk it does not object to beginning trial on October 17 if the court has sufficient availability to complete a five-day trial that week, provided only that Musk commit not to seek more than five trial days,” adding that “Musk is the party holding up productive and disciplined discussions on the scope of discovery by delaying filing an answer.”

To resolve the situation, the judge agreed to expedite the trial and asked both parties to work together in good faith. Now, under Delaware Chancery Court rules, Musk will have five days in which to produce a redacted version of the filing, which was proposed under seal. The judge also warned both sides that any pre-trial information exchanges “should not be requested or withheld in an effort to inflict unreasonable demands on or extract unreasonable benefits from the opposing party.”