Ripple and the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States have filed a joint move with Federal Judge Analisa Torres, requesting that the current expert discovery deadline be extended.

Parties Asked the Court for Brief Extension

On August 31, the deadline for fact discovery in the SEC v. Ripple Labs case approaches. The two parties have now asked the court for a brief extension.

#XRPCommunity #SECGov. v. #Ripple #XRP Parties move jointly for brief extension of fact discovery deadline to take Garlinghouse and Larsen depositions and to extend expert discovery deadline until November 12, 2021.
https://t.co/HFQ19r4wSB

— James K. Filan 🇺🇸🇮🇪 (@FilanLaw) August 24, 2021

According to filing the parties will not be able to reasonably complete the previously scheduled depositions of Garlinghouse and Larsen before August 31 due to the unexpected illness of an attorney for one of the parties who was integral to the Larsen deposition, as well as the intervening vacation schedules of other attorneys.

This meant that the fact-finding process would end on August 31st, as planned. However, after the fact discovery deadline, the depositions of Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and the executive chairman will be scheduled for two separate dates in September.

Court previous extensions

The court had already extended the fact and discovery deadlines by two months, from July 2 to August 31 for fact discovery and August 16 to October 15 for expert discovery.

However, if the deposition is not completed for the aforementioned reasons, the expert reports will be delayed as well. Expert reports were due on September 10 under the present schedule.

The content of the parties’ planned expert reports could be influenced by their deposition testimony. As a result, the parties respectfully request that expert discovery be extended until November 12 by the Court, according to filing.

The depositions will take place in September, assuming the court grants an extension, and may have an impact on the contents of the individual parties’ remarks. The lawsuit’s timeframe is likely to be reset as a result of these developments.

Despite the parties’ explanations for the request for a delay, the community has raised concerns about private motivations. According to Attorney Filan, the ambiguity in the file was kept as a “professional courtesy.”

Hey Eoin – We don’t know who is sick or which team that attorney is on. It’s purposefully drafted so we can’t tell if it’s a Ripple side lawyer or an SEC side lawyer. So it’s a professional courtesy. While this is a battle, the lawyers are still professional with each other.

— James K. Filan 🇺🇸🇮🇪 (@FilanLaw) August 24, 2021

The SEC and Ripple are clearly still pursuing each other, demanding records, and other proof. Both Ripple and the SEC have been working to improve their legal standing. As time passes, the possibilities appear to be slimming. It will be interesting to see how it develops in the future.