The SEC scored a small victory in the legal case against Ripple Labs as the lawyer James Filan noted so let’s take a closer look at today’s latest Ripple news.

The lawyer said:

“The filing of the Individual Defendants’ Answer is the triggering event. When the Answer is filed, even if before April 8th, the date the Answer is filed starts the two-week clock running for the filing of the SEC position on discovery.”

The US SEC has been granted an extension to submit a discovery schedule that relates to the individual defendants CEO of ripple Labs Brad Garlinghouse and the co-founder Chris Larsen as a part of the case against Ripple Labs. The legal dispute has been going on since late December 2020 after the SEC claimed that ripple generated $1.3 billion from an unregistered security offering via Ripple’s XRP but the company denied that XRP is security while saying it is a method for international payments and argued that the SEC failed to give them a fair notice that the token was a security.

This is enforcement by litigation. The SEC was not prepared, but the court is not holding it against them. Everyone including the judges are learning as they go. Think about how many people still don’t understand crypto. Every extension request gives the court more time to learn.

— Swish (@honeynutcherri4) March 23, 2022

While the ruling in favor of the SEC in the instance marks a small win, other onlookers suggested that the enforcement body dragged its heels and slowed down the case to bring more frustration to Ripple Labs. The latest development was outlined by the defense lawyer and ex-US federal prosecutor James Filan who cited a text from the court order:

“The SEC shall inform the Court of its position on whether any additional discovery is required within a week of the filing of the Individual Defendants.”

As a part of the schedule, the defendants have until April 8 to submit an answer to the SEC complaints while the SEC’s decision on the additional discovery is due the following week and the proposed securing order is also due on April 22. The dates are not exact and could change depending on how Ripple Labs moves on with the case with Filan saying that the SEC scored a small victory in the case:

“The filing of the Individual Defendants’ Answer is the triggering event. When the Answer is filed, even if before April 8th, the date the Answer is filed starts the two-week clock running for the filing of the SEC position on discovery and the Joint Proposed Scheduling Order.”

The xRP community reaction to the post was mixed with some expressing anger at the SEC and trying to gain time in case that Is already lost while other Twitter users suggest that the delays could be good for the coin in the long run:

“This is a good thing, SEC will have no excuse as to timelines and more delays after a schedule has been confirmed. Also they will not be able to say they were rushed when and if it comes down to summary judgment.”