Delware judge steps aside from Elon Musk cases over bias in supporting LinkedIn post that mocked him | Latest Tech News
The Delaware judge who once ordered Elon Musk’s pay package deal be revoked is stepping aside from a number of ongoing cases against him over allegations of bias.
Court of Chancery Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick announced the beautiful transfer Monday after Musk’s attorneys accused her of having it in for the billionaire, pointing to a LinkedIn post that appeared to show her “supporting” commentary mocking him.
Musk’s nemesis said in a submitting that she’s going to reassign the group of fits to different judges but insisted she was not in fact biased against the high-profile defendant.
Delaware Court of Chancery Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, who stepped aside from a number of Elon Musk-related cases. AP
“The motion for recusal rests on a false premise — that I support a LinkedIn post about Mr. Musk, which I do not in fact support,” she wrote. “I’m not biased against the defendants in these actions.
“But the motion for reassignment is granted,” McCormick continued. “As needs to be apparent, disproportionate media consideration surrounding a judge’s handling of an motion is detrimental to the administration of justice.
“Fortunately, the Court of Chancery is far greater than any one person.”
She said the cases could be taken over by three colleagues in Delaware’s Court of Chancery — the nation’s premier venue for company litigation, where judges routinely determine high-stakes disputes involving fiduciary duties and board governance for firms included in the state.
Last week, attorneys for Musk demanded McCormick recuse herself because she pressed a button indicating she “supported” a post mocking Musk for being discovered liable for tweets he posted in 2022 about his $44 billion Twitter deal. LinkedIn’s “support” function is comparable to “liking” a post on it and other social media platforms.
Musk’s attorneys said the judge’s alleged social media exercise created an unavoidable look of bias under Delaware law, which requires recusal where there may be “any reasonable basis to question the impartiality of the trial judge.”
“I either did not click the ‘support’ icon at all, or I did so accidentally. I do not believe that I did it accidentally,” the jurist replied last week.
The litigation before McCormick concerned consolidated shareholder by-product lawsuits accusing Musk and Tesla’s board of breaching fiduciary duties, including claims tied to government compensation and broader company governance points.
One of the central cases, introduced by a Detroit pension fund, challenges how Tesla’s administrators awarded themselves stock-based compensation, alleging the company was harmed by extreme pay and weak oversight.
The lawsuits have been mixed with associated claims, some of which contain Musk’s conduct surrounding the 2022 Twitter deal, creating overlap with points raised in the latest federal case in California.
McCormick has been at the middle of a number of headline-grabbing cases involving Musk, including the 2022 lawsuit that sparked him to full his $44 billion acquisition of X, then recognized as Twitter, after he’d tried to stroll away from the deal.
A LinkedIn post cited in Elon Musk’s recusal movement seems with a banner studying “Katie McCormick supports this.”
That case was fast-tracked under McCormick’s supervision, with the judge pushing it toward a trial where she might have ordered Musk to close the transaction — a transfer that in the end led the billionaire to back down and finalize the acquisition just days before trial.
A jury earlier this month discovered Musk liable for deceptive Twitter shareholders forward of his 2022 acquisition of the company. Getty Images
The relationship grew more contentious in 2024, when McCormick voided Musk’s huge Tesla compensation package deal, then valued at roughly $56 billion, ruling that the method was flawed and overly influenced by the CEO.
Musk’s movement for a recusal included a screenshot of a LinkedIn post that was favored by a member of McCormick’s workers.
Although the Delaware Supreme Court later reversed the choice on remedy grounds, reinstating the pay package deal, the case intensified Musk’s criticism of the court’s home state, prompting him to publicly urge firms to incorporate elsewhere and fueling a broader debate over Delaware’s dominance in company law.
The Post has sought remark from Musk and McCormick.
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