Elon Musk demands judges recusal over support of LinkedIn post that mocked him after $2B verdict | Latest Tech News
Elon Musk is demanding a Delaware decide step apart from a high-stakes Tesla case after she allegedly “supported” a LinkedIn post mocking a $2 billion verdict against him in a separate California case.
Lawyers for Musk and Tesla filed a movement in Delaware’s Court of Chancery searching for the recusal of Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick from overseeing consolidated shareholder lawsuits, arguing her conduct “create[s] a perception of bias” that taints the proceedings.
The explosive submitting facilities on exercise tied to McCormick’s LinkedIn account following a federal jury verdict in California that discovered Musk liable over tweets he posted in 2022 about his $44 billion Twitter deal.
Elon Musk is searching for to take away the Delaware decide overseeing key Tesla shareholder lawsuits. Getty Images
The criticism contains a screenshot of a LinkedIn post by Harry Plotkin, a Southern California-based jury marketing consultant who labored with the legal crew that sued Musk for securities fraud in San Francisco federal court.
“Sorry, Elon. Sorry, Quinn Emanuel,” Plotkin wrote, referring to Musk and the law firm that represented him.
“Thanks $2 billion for your help in this trial. It was a pleasure working against you. Congratulations to the trial team at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP and Bottini Law for standing up for the little guy against the richest man in the world.”
The submitting alleges the post was promoted by McCormick’s account, with a banner above it studying: “Katie McCormick supports this.”
McCormick has denied deliberately endorsing the post, claiming she was unaware of the interplay until LinkedIn notified her she had used the heart-in-hand “support” icon, according to the Financial Times.
“I either did not click the ‘support’ icon at all, or I did so accidentally. I do not believe that I did it accidentally,” she wrote in a letter to attorneys.
Delaware Chancery Court Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick is dealing with a recusal demand from Elon Musk. Delaware Court of Chancery
A banner studying “Katie McCormick supports this” seems above the post cited in Musk’s recusal movement.
A separate LinkedIn post criticizing Elon Musk — calling people “deeply ashamed of themselves” — was “liked” by an account tied to the decide’s chambers, a element Musk’s legal professionals cite as evidence of potential bias.
As alleged in the submitting, LinkedIn’s “Support” response — shown as a coronary heart cradled in an outstretched hand — requires a deliberate choice from a number of choices and is usually interpreted as a stronger endorsement than a normal “Like,” which is the platform’s default, one-click response.
A separate LinkedIn post criticizing Musk also drew engagement from the decide’s chambers, with a employees account “liking” a message saying “so many people who should be so deeply ashamed of themselves seem incapable of being so,” according to the submitting.
In the submitting, Musk’s legal professionals argue the LinkedIn exercise strikes at the core of judicial impartiality, writing that the posts “are not simply negative criticism” but “inflammatory,” mocking Musk and his attorneys while celebrating a multibillion-dollar verdict against them.
They say the decide’s alleged response creates an unavoidable look of bias under Delaware law, which requires recusal where there’s “any reasonable basis to question the impartiality of the trial judge.”
A source close to Musk alleged to The Post that the decide was “corrupt.” In December 2024, Musk hit out at McCormick for her “absolute corruption” when she declined to reinstate his Tesla compensation package deal.
The drawback, they argue, is compounded by the overlap between the federal case and the Delaware proceedings, noting that “the very facts underlying the litigation celebrated in the posts are squarely at issue” in the shareholder lawsuits now before McCormick.
Plaintiffs in the Delaware case have already pointed to the California ruling to support their claims — making the decide’s alleged endorsement of that final result particularly problematic, according to the submitting.
“The Court’s support of posts about a ‘pending… proceeding’” in another jurisdiction, the legal professionals wrote, “runs afoul” of judicial conduct guidelines barring public remark on energetic instances.
Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick seems with members of the Delaware Court of Chancery in this undated file photograph. Delaware Court of Chancery
McCormick is at the moment presiding over consolidated shareholder spinoff lawsuits accusing Musk and Tesla’s board of breaching fiduciary duties, including claims tied to government compensation and company governance.
One of the central instances — introduced by a Detroit pension fund — challenges how Tesla’s administrators awarded themselves stock-based pay, alleging the company was harmed by extreme compensation.
The litigation has been consolidated with associated shareholder claims, some of which also contact on Musk’s conduct during the 2022 Twitter deal, placing a number of points of Tesla’s governance under scrutiny.
The conflict between Musk and McCormick dates back to 2022, when she presided over the blockbuster lawsuit that pressured him to full his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.
McCormick beforehand presided over the case that pressured Musk to full his $44 billion Twitter deal. REUTERS
McCormick put the case on a fast observe and signaled she was ready to order Musk to close the deal — a stress marketing campaign that ended with the billionaire backing down and finalizing the acquisition just days before trial.
Musk has since made clear he blames the Delaware court for that final result, testifying earlier this month that he believed he was “unlikely to win” because the decide was “extremely biased against me.”
Tensions escalated additional in 2024 when McCormick voided Musk’s large Tesla pay package deal — then valued at roughly $56 billion — discovering the method that accredited it was deeply flawed and overly influenced by Musk himself.
The Post has sought remark from the Delaware Court of Chancery and McCormick.
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