Ripple v. SEC: Agency wants to cement its previous motion; will this 90-page reply work

Anyone following the Ripple vs. SEC lawsuit knows that this litigation has been playing out for eternity.

With both sides taking turns to censure each other, the deadline date seems further away. In the latest development, the regulatory watchdog (SEC) took a jibe at Defendant (Ripple) in support of its previously filed motion.

Cementing my stance

The Plaintiff, in the 24 August filing aimed to cement its position with a 90-page reply brief to exclude the testimonies of 10 Ripple experts.

Defense attorney James Filan shared the latest SEC filing on the social media platform. Filan tweeted,

“The SEC has filed a request to file one omnibus (big) reply, up to 90 pages in length, in further support of its Motion to Exclude the Testimony of Defendants’ Expert Witnesses.”

While the order did not specify a page limit for replies, the order, as well as the court’s individual practices in civil cases allowed a 15-page limit for replies.

Overall, the SEC’s request to file a 90-page omnibus reply in support of its motion to exclude the testimonies of 10 Ripple experts. 

This filing comes after the previous win where the court had previously granted the commission’s request. The request was to file an opening brief of up to 120 pages in support of the motion to exclude Ripple experts’ testimonies. 

No objection, My Lord!

Meanwhile, Defendant didn’t object to the said request as mentioned in the aforementioned filing. In fact, according to the filing to Judge Analisa Torres, Ripple requested,

“11 pages for each reply brief in further support of Defendants’ motions to exclude the SEC’s five experts.”

One shouldn’t forget that the SEC aimed to strengthen the regulatory stance. This move came especially after the court’s decision that denied the SEC motion to shield the Hinman speech-related documents under the attorney-client privilege.

Nonetheless, SEC continues to fight in favour to seal portions of the Exclusion Motions.

In a previous update, the SEC filed a motion to seal portions of the Exclusion Motions.

These include information identifying the SEC’s expert witnesses and the personal financial information of one of the SEC experts.