- The three firms representing Tesla shareholder Richard Tornetta want to be paid 29 million Tesla shares.
- Some 37 lawyers, associates, and paralegals worked on the case on contingency for more than five years.
- The case is being overseen by Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, the same judge that voided Musk’s compensation package.
Lawyers aren’t cheap, and many are known for charging exorbitant hourly fees for their services. Apparently, the legal eagles representing a Tesla shareholder who sued Elon Musk over his record-breaking compensation package have decided to take a page out of Musk’s playbook and aim for the stars.
Their astronomical request? A cool $370,000 per hour worked, which translates to a mind-blowing $7.2 billion total.
Read: Elon Musk Gets His $48 Billion Pay Day Approved By Shareholders
Tesla investor Richard Tornetta has been represented by three law firms in his ongoing fight to strike down Musk’s $56 billion pay package. A judge voided the unprecedented compensation plan earlier this year but in June, Tesla shareholders voted to reinstate it.
The law firms assert that 37 lawyers, associates, and paralegals worked on the case on contingency for more than five years. They claim that their work resulted in shares being returned to investors, which would otherwise have gone to Musk and diluted stock held by other investors. The lawyers are asking to be paid with 29 million Tesla shares, valued at more than $7 billion at current rates.
Tornetta’s lawyers and those representing Elon Musk appeared in a Delaware court earlier this week to present their cases. Overseeing the case is Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Court of Chancery, the same judge that voided Musk’s pay package this year.
John Reed, the lawyer representing Tesla, told the judge, “it looks like a real-life lawyer joke,” and asked for the the legal teams to be awarded as little as $13.6 million. Court documents reveal that more than 8,000 Tesla shareholders have inundated the court with 1,500 letters and objections over the proposed $7.2 billion fee.
Tesla’s lawyers added that because shareholders voted to re-ratify Musk’s pay package in June, the initial legal victory for Richard Tornetta has turned into a loss, meaning his lawsuit hasn’t benefited Tesla or its shareholders, Fox Business notes.
The highest lawyer fee ever awarded in shareholder litigation in the U.S. was a $688 million fee to lawyers involved in an Enron class action lawsuit.
Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick will hear arguments about the legal impact of last month’s re-ratification vote in the coming weeks. She may take weeks or months to rule on the requested legal fees.
