Crucial Hearing Takes Place Today

The class action lawsuit against Ripple Labs for selling XRP as an unregistered security is picking up steam today. The case, which is being litigated in the state of California, will see a class certification hearing today at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Class certification is a court order that gives plaintiffs the right to proceed on behalf of a particular class of plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit. If the judge already denies that order, the case, which has been ongoing since 2018, could end sooner than expected.

XRP community attorney John E. Deaton stated in a Twitter thread today that it is a Zoom hearing that he will be attending. Unlike the case of LBRY vs. the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the judge in charge of the case will not allow amicus attorneys to attend the oral hearing.

The founder of Crypto Law and attorney for XRP holders had filed an amicus brief in the case in February. In principle, however, the hearing is open to the public.

“I anticipate that the public will be present as audience members only, but as I said at the hearings in New York, PLEASE do not interrupt the proceedings and DO NOT contact Ripple’s lawyers, the plaintiffs’ lawyers, the court, or anyone else associated with the case,” Deaton writes. Remarkably, the judge opened online access to only 500 members of the general public.

What’s At Stake For Ripple Today

The hearing is about oral arguments on the certification issue of the group of XRP owners suing Ripple. Plaintiff Bradley Sostak, who owned XRP for only two weeks, is asking to be the lead plaintiff in the class action.

He argues that XRP is a security. Sostak is asking the court to create a class consisting of all XRP owners who bought and now hold XRP or who sold XRP at a loss.

The proposed class action would include XRP holders around the world, including the 75,890 XRP holders around the world who disagree with the plaintiffs in Zakinov and side with Ripple in the case against the SEC.

Moreover, the proposed class action is not limited to direct sales of Ripple, but encompasses all sales of XRP, including secondary sales and international sales in countries where XRP is already classified as a non-security.

John E. Deaton urged the court in his amicus brief not to certify the class because of these conflicts and because there are only a small number of XRP holders who claim that XRP is an unregistered security.

Although the litigation has been pending for five years, the court’s scheduling indicates that the case could drag on for quite some time (if the class is certified). XRP community member Huber recently shared the court schedule. According to it, the trial might not start until April 15, 2024. That would be 6 years before the trial would even begin.

In the Zakinov vs. Ripple case, the judge just agreed to extend the trial by about a month with trial starting on April 15 2024. The original lawsuit was filed in May 2018. That would be 6 years until trial would start at all. But the laws and rules are clear since 1933! It will… pic.twitter.com/7ud7VwMIEx

— Mr. Huber🔥🦅🔥 (@Leerzeit) March 24, 2023

At press time, the XRP price stood at $0.4689, up 2% in the last 24 hours.

Featured image from Medium, chart from TradingView.com