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The lawyers who successfully argued that a massive pay package for Tesla<\/a> CEO Elon Musk was illegal and should be voided have asked the presiding judge to award them company stock worth $5.6 billion as legal fees.<\/p>\n The attorneys, who represented Tesla shareholders in the case decided in January, made the request of the Delaware judge in court papers filed Friday.<\/p>\n The amount would apparently be far and away the largest such award, if approved. Lawyers in class-action suits stemming from the collapse of Enron got a\u00a0record $688 million in legal fees in 2008.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe are \u2018prepared to eat our cooking,\u2019\u201d the Tesla plaintiff attorneys wrote in the court filing, arguing the sum is justified because they worked purely on a contingency basis for more than 5 years. If they lost they would have gotten nothing. The benefit to Tesla \u201cwas massive,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n The requested award represents 11% of the Tesla stock \u2014 worth some $55 billion \u2014 that Musk was seeking in the compensation package, which Judge Kathaleen St.\u00a0Jude McCormick ruled illegal in January.<\/a><\/p>\n Not only does the request take nothing from the electric car company\u2019s balance sheet, it is also tax deductible, the attorneys argued. They are also seeking $1.1 million in expenses.<\/p>\n In her ruling, Judge McCormick<\/a> accepted the shareholder lawyers\u2019 argument that Musk personally dictated the landmark 2018 pay package in\u00a0sham negotiations<\/a>\u00a0with directors who were not independent.<\/p>\n It would have nearly doubled Musk\u2019s stake in Tesla. He currently holds 13%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to CHRO Daily, our newsletter focusing on helping HR executive navigate the changing needs of the workplace. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n