OPINION
Citizens for Judicial Fairness Condemns Delaware’s Chancellor McCormick For Awarding $175 Million Legal Fees
Dear Friends,
Cronyism and legal friends win again in Delaware’s Chancery Court as “backward logic” sadly prevails.
Citizens for Judicial Fairness gave Delaware’s Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick well-deserved condemnation for her $175 million award in legal fees as part of the Tesla board pay-case.
Years of Chancery judges rewarding lawyers with “massive, unchecked fees” in the TransPerfect case have been outrageous. And now this insane award truly is “preposterous” folks! Awards that high are purely criminal as I see it, folks. Cronyism and corruption, in my book.
See the Delaware Business Now story below. Send your feedback on this. It is always welcome and appreciated.
Respectfully Yours,
JUDSON Bennett–Coastal
Activist group criticizes McCormick for awarding lawyers in Elon Musk Tesla case $175 million
(Special to Delaware Business Now) Jan 11, 2025
Citizens for Judicial Fairness again took Delaware’s Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick to task, this time for awarding $176 million in legal fees as part of the Tesla board pay case:
“Just a few short months after Delaware celebrated $175 million in Medicaid funding as ‘the single greatest reinforcement of Delaware’s Medicaid program’ since the Affordable Care Act, Chancellor McCormick awarded the same amount of money to three law firms in a single verdict – Delaware’s backwards logic in action once again,” the group stated in a release.
“For years, we’ve seen firsthand the eagerness by Chancery judges to reward lawyers with massive, unchecked fees through the TransPerfect case, but $175 million is preposterous. That’s the average salary of more than 2,600 Delawareans given out in a single day to elite corporate lawyers. Delaware’s Court system is out of control,” the release stated. “It’s long past time for Delaware’s leadership to create real accountability and transparency to ensure the courts serve the people rather than their tight-knit circle of legal elites.”
McCormick awarded the plaintiff’s lawyers in the Tesla case the $175 million after she ruled that the board of the company had too many ties to CEO Elon Musk in awarding a $56 billion compensation package. Musk is appealing the ruling.
Often attorneys can be awarded 10 or more percent of the proceeds in major cases. That would have amounted to more than half a billion dollars.
Citizens for Judicial Fairness came out of the Court-supervised sale of TransPerfect to co-founder Philip Shawe.
While Shawe prevailed, he continues to contest the fees paid to the custodian in the case and criticize Chancery Court and what he sees are overly close ties to the Delaware corporate legal community.
While judges are not allowed to respond to criticism, the Delaware State Bar Association recently came to the defense of McCormick.