Elon Musk Faces Legal Setback, Loses Bid to Dismiss ex-Twitter CEO’s Severance Lawsuit

Elon Musk suffered a table setback in a legal battle regarding termination of top executives at Twitter Inc. following his acquisition of company in 2022. A judge ruled late Friday that former CEO Parag Agrawal and several or high-ranking officials can move forward with ir claims, asserting that Musk terminated m to avoid paying severance before y could submit resignation letters.

former executives filed ir complaint in March, referencing a quote from Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk. In it, Musk reportedly expressed urgency to finalize acquisition, stating re was a “200-million differential in cookie jar between closing tonight and doing it tomorrow morning.”

Musk has been contesting various legal claims for back pay from thousands of Twitter employees he laid off during his $44 billion acquisition of social media platform, w rebranded as X Corp. Recently, a former employee won an arbitration case for unpaid severance, potentially setting a precedent for similar claims.

In July, Musk and X Corp. successfully dismissed a lawsuit that sought at least $500 million in severance for about 6,000 laid-off employees under federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney rejected Musk's legal team’s attempts to dismiss Agrawal's claims. Agrawal is joined in lawsuit by Vijaya Gadde, former top legal and policy executive; Ned Segal, ex-chief financial officer; and Sean Edgett, company’s former general counsel. plaintiffs contend y are owed severance benefits equivalent to one year’s salary plus unvested stock awards at acquisition price.