The attorneys who efficiently argued {that a} large pay bundle for Tesla CEO Elon Musk was unlawful and must be voided have requested the presiding decide to award them firm inventory value $5.6 billion as authorized charges.
The attorneys, who represented Tesla shareholders within the case determined in January, made the request of the Delaware decide in court docket papers filed Friday.
The quantity would apparently be far and away the most important such award, if authorised. Legal professionals in class-action fits stemming from the collapse of Enron acquired a record $688 million in legal fees in 2008.
“We are ‘prepared to eat our cooking,’” the Tesla plaintiff attorneys wrote within the court docket submitting, arguing the sum is justified as a result of they labored purely on a contingency foundation for greater than 5 years. In the event that they misplaced they might have gotten nothing. The profit to Tesla “was massive,” they mentioned.
The requested award represents 11% of the Tesla inventory — value some $55 billion — that Musk was searching for within the compensation bundle, which Choose Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick ruled illegal in January.
Not solely does the request take nothing from the electrical automobile firm’s stability sheet, additionally it is tax deductible, the attorneys argued. They’re additionally searching for $1.1 million in bills.
In her ruling, Choose McCormick accepted the shareholder attorneys’ argument that Musk personally dictated the landmark 2018 pay bundle in sham negotiations with administrators who weren’t unbiased.
It could have practically doubled Musk’s stake in Tesla. He at the moment holds 13%.
