US Judge U-Turns on Ruling in Overstock Digital Dividend Lawsuit

A senior district judge in the U.S. state of Utah has acknowledged he made a "mistake" when granting Overstock's motion to dismiss a lawsuit over its digital dividend issued in 2019.

In late September 2020, Overstock, the bitcoin-friendly e-commerce firm, was granted the motion to dismiss the case brought by the Mangrove Partners Master Fund.
In the latest filing on Jan. 6, Judge Dale Kimball said he had "overlooked" a footnote from the plaintiff requesting permission to file an amended complaint if the motion was granted.
The case hinges around the digital dividend that Overstock p a id to investors, with Mangrove alleging it was deliberately designed to create an artificial squeeze on short sellers.
The plaintiff also claimed Overstock had made false declarations about its financial future.
The shareholder dividend took the form of a digital security listed on Overstock affiliate tZero’s trading platform.
Patrick Byrne, Overstock’s CEO at the time and a defendant in the lawsuit, was famously anti-short sellers and reportedly first became interested in blockchain as a way to limit their actions.
With Judge Kimball now acknowledging his error in granting Overstock's motion, he nullified the original ruling and granted Mangrove permission to file an amended complaint.

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