Judge Leaves Top Business Court Legacy of ‘Glasscockian Prose’

Some Delaware Chancery Court opinions will be remembered for shaping corporate law. Others for boldly rejecting a billionaire’s business plans. Then there’s the octopus one.

“Scientists have found that the octopus is bizarrely adept at navigating mazes,” Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III mused in a contract dispute over house construction. He thought less highly of the complaint, writing, “the octopus has nothing on the contortions exhibited in Plaintiffs’ attempt to establish jurisdiction here.”

The August 2023 opinion is a classic of what the court’s chief judge calls “Glasscockian prose,” a perspective she will miss when Glasscock retires in January. Nationally ...