San Francisco, Sep 25 (TIWN) In a minor win for Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a US court has allowed his legal team to make a case that a $7.75 million severance payment to Peiter 'Mudge' Zatko, Twitter's former head of security, allows him to terminate the $44 billion takeover deal.

Judge Kathleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery in the US, where the legal battle is set to begin from october 17, ruled in a latest filing that Musk can amend his counterclaims to include the payment to Zatko.

The ruling means that Musk can use the Zatko payment for his argument regarding terminating the deal.