Delaware Judge Reassigns Elon Musk Cases After LinkedIn Emoji Spat
Business Insider • • general
Key Points:
- Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick is stepping aside from three shareholder lawsuits involving Elon Musk after his lawyers accused her of bias due to alleged supportive reactions to anti-Musk LinkedIn posts.
- McCormick denied supporting any critical posts about Musk and emphasized her impartiality, noting she previously dismissed a lawsuit against him and chose to reassign the cases to other judges to avoid media distractions.
- Musk's legal team pointed to McCormick and a staff member's LinkedIn interactions with posts critical of Musk, but McCormick stated she reported the activity to LinkedIn and does not recall endorsing such content.
- McCormick has a history of rulings involving Musk, including striking down his $55 billion Tesla pay package in 2024 and overseeing Twitter's lawsuit to enforce Musk's acquisition deal.
- The reassigned lawsuits allege Musk acted in his own interest over shareholders and that Tesla's board enabled potential violations of an SEC settlement, charges Musk denies.
