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Twitter was sued yesterday by a consulting firm that says it was never paid for the work it did on the lawsuit that forced Elon Musk to complete his purchase of the company.
Charles River Associates (CRA) says it was hired by Twitter in August 2022, shortly after Twitter sued Musk over his refusal to finalize their $44 billion merger deal. Musk finally completed the purchase in late October after it became clear he was likely to lose the court.
From Aug. 15 to Oct. 27, CRA “provided all requested expert advisory work and services to Twitter and its legal counsel in connection with the Musk lawsuit and pursuant to the terms of the contract,” the lawsuit filed yesterday in Suffolk County said. Supreme Court in Boston, Massachusetts. The lawsuit said that “Twitter was in breach of contract by not paying all CRA bills,” which amounted to $2.19 million.
CRA is seeking the full amount due on the invoices and double or triple damages for Twitter’s “misleading, willful breach of the consulting agreement, plus interest, costs and legal fees.” CRA’s lawsuit is one of several allegations that Musk-owned Twitter has refused to pay bills for services provided before he bought the company.
Software vendor Imply Data previously claimed that Twitter failed to pay a $1,092,000 bill and apparently plans to charge Imply with another $7 million in payments for a contract that expires at the end of 2024. Additional breach of contract lawsuits allege that Twitter failed to pay $136,000 in rent on a San Francisco office tower and $197,725 for private jet services.
Twitter did not respond to payment requests, lawsuit says
The new lawsuit said that “CRA and its Senior Consultant, Professor Mark Zmijewski, were retained by Twitter to provide economic advisory services in relation to Professor Zmijewski’s anticipated rebuttal report and expert rebuttal statement, which would refute the expert’s report and testimony.” one of the experts for the Musk parties, Yvette Austin Smith.”
CRA’s work included “research and analysis underlying the expert opinions to be included in the expert rebuttal report,” the preparation of drafts of the report, “and other expert advice and litigation support commissioned by Twitter’s legal counsel the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit details CRA’s attempts to get paid for its work after Musk reluctantly completed his purchase of Twitter instead of continuing to fight the lawsuit. CRA said it received no response to a series of messages it sent about unpaid bills in the month following Musk’s purchase.
Twitter also failed to follow the agreed-upon process to object to the bills, CRA said. “Twitter agreed, under the terms of the contract, that any ‘objection to CRA’s invoices must be made in writing by the customer within five (5) business days of receipt of the objected invoice’,” the statement said. lawsuit. . “Twitter has never objected to CRA regarding the CRA invoices.”
