In a landmark judgement in the unravelling court battle between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Presiding Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District Court of New York has released a pre-trial scheduling order on Wednesday, the 9th of August, 2023 which paves the way for the case to be before a jury in the second quarter of 2024. The scheduling order requires both sides to furnish blinder dates – in order to protect the pool of jury members from prejudicing influences – slated for 23rd of August. This will be coupled with the necessary documentation, including exhibits, materials and a listing of personnel from Ripple and the defendant to be put forward before the 4th of December of this year. It also allows for the motion of a limine to the pretrial document which is an attorney filing with prime intention to ban certain testimony or evidence from being incorporated in the proceedings. Witnesses and numerous decisions related to litigation logistics will be revealed at the second pre-trial conference to be set after the blackout date, as designated by the Judge, has passed.
As progressions in the Ripple lawsuit strengthen, this momentous would embolden stanched believers of XRP with a timeline declared for the resolution whilst affording the media and fanfare associated the hub bub of debate to continue temporarily. It goes without saying that any appeal made by the SEC can counteract the instigated trial timeline, yet this development suggests that, from where XRP holders are at currently, they can probably anticipate the lawsuit story to headline news for another year.
In what could prove to be a positive realization for the supporters, progress in the form of this pre-trial Order serves market XRP proponents well. Yet they should remain committed to objectivity and remould persuasive arguments to address Ripple’s declarations of cryptocurrency and securities regulations. Only then will tokens holders have our pulse of the price of XRP glimmer with hope in and beyond the lawsuit horizons.
