Home / Markets News & Opinions / Court Dismisses $1 Billion R3 Lawsuit Against Ripple

Court Dismisses $1 Billion R3 Lawsuit Against Ripple

Last Updated October 6, 2020 2:23 PM
Josiah Wilmoth
Last Updated October 6, 2020 2:23 PM

A Delaware judge has dismissed the $1 billion lawsuit fintech firm R3 levied against Ripple, stating that the case does not fall under the court’s jurisdiction. However, the legal saga is far from over.

As CCN.com has reported, the two fintech firms have sued one another over a contract dispute related to the once-promising partnership they announced last year. Included in the contract was a provision giving R3 the option to purchase up to 5 billion XRP — the native currency of the Ripple Consensus Ledger (RCL) — for $0.0085 per unit. Since then, the XRP price has surged by nearly 3,000% and is currently trading at $0.243, meaning that R3 could purchase more than $1.2 billion worth of XRP for just $42.5 million.

Ripple terminated the options contract this year, alleging that R3 misrepresented both the state of its banking consortium and its intention to commercialize the partnership and otherwise failed to honor the terms of the agreement. R3 sued Ripple in Delaware and asked the court to compel Ripple to sell them the XRP for the price stipulated in the contract. Ripple then filed a countersuit against R3 in California, requesting that punitive damages be levied against its former partner.

Last Friday, Ripple chief executive Brad Garlinghouse announced on Twitter that a Delaware judge had thrown out R3’s case.

R3 was quick to respond , calling Garlinghouse’s tweet “misleading” and stating that the court had “simply ruled it wasn’t within their jurisdiction”, and the ruling had nothing to do with the merits of the case. The company stated that jurisdiction would be decided between New York and California. “Stay tuned,” the company added.

However, Garlinghouse retorted that, regardless of the reasoning, the case was thrown out. He also said that Ripple has not yet been notified of any suit in New York. “What is clear is that R3 must first respond to our case against them in [California] by Oct. 26,” he added. “We look forward to their response.”

Featured image from Shutterstock.