Delaware judge reassigns Elon Musk cases after accusation of bias

Delaware Judge Kathaleen McCormick said Monday that she has reassigned cases related to Elon Musk. Tesla’s The CEO accused her of bias for her support of a social media post critical of him.

Musk last week formally accused McCormick of bias, and his lawyers demanded that a Delaware Court of Chancery judge recuse himself from two Tesla lawsuits. The LinkedIn post, to which McCormick allegedly replied with an emoji, touted a court ruling that could cost Musk more than $2 billion for defrauding Twitter investors.

McCormick said in a letter to Musk’s lawyers last week that he did not intend to click any emoji expressing support for the post and that he had reported possible “suspicious activity” on his account to LinkedIn.

In his order Monday, McCormick denied the motion to dismiss but said he had assigned three Musk-related cases currently before the Court of Chancery to other judges.

“The retraction request is based on the false premise that I endorsed a LinkedIn post about Mr. Musk that I did not actually endorse,” he wrote. “I am not biased against the defendants in these cases. In fact, just last year I dismissed a lawsuit against Mr. Musk. The motion to dismiss was denied. However, the motion for reappointment was granted.”

McCormick became the target of Musk’s ire after he ordered Tesla to cancel a 2018 CEO pay package worth about $56 billion while presiding over shareholder litigation between Tornetta and Musk.

Musk has moved his businesses, including Tesla, out of Delaware, incorporating them in Texas and Nevada, and encouraging others to do the same.

In 2025, the Delaware Supreme Court said Musk’s 2018 pay package should be reinstated, and the lower court ruled that McCormick’s ruling was too extreme a remedy and didn’t give Tesla a chance to say what fair compensation for Musk should be.

McCormick wrote in his order Monday that “disproportionate media attention to a judge’s handling of an action undermines the administration of justice.” He said he had “complete confidence” in his colleagues’ ability to decide cases.

Tesla and Musk still have two lawsuits pending in Delaware court. One is about compensation for Tesla executives, and the other is a consolidated shareholder lawsuit filed by investors claiming Musk breached his fiduciary duties to Tesla when he founded xAI, a potential rival in the artificial intelligence field.

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