Elon Musk’s Twitter has filed a lawsuit against prominent law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen, and Katz, alleging that the firm charged an excessive and unwarranted fee for its services during Twitter’s privatization process. The law firm billed Twitter $90 million for its successful efforts to force Musk to follow through on his commitment to take the company private.
CNBC reports that Elon Musk’s Twitter has filed a lawsuit against renowned law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz, claiming that the company overcharged for its services during Twitter’s privatization process.
The lawsuit focuses on a $90 million legal bill that was presented by Wachtell, the law firm that represented Twitter when Musk was waffling on taking the company private last year. The legal bill, described as a “last minute” charge, has been contested by Musk’s attorneys who argue that the fee was excessive and unjustified.
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen, and Katz was Twitter’s legal representation prior to Musk’s acquisition. The firm had stepped in to represent Twitter after Musk initially withdrew his offer to take Twitter private for $44 billion. The law firm played a crucial role in finalizing the deal in November 2022, for which it received the contested $90 million fee.
The lawsuit, filed by X Corp., Twitter’s holding company, is seeking repayment of “any associated excess fee payment” and attorneys’ fees associated with the cost of litigation. The legal representation for Musk’s company in this matter is Reid Collins & Tsai, a litigation boutique based in Austin, Texas.
This legal dispute is not an isolated incident. After Musk took over Twitter, the company was saddled with $13 billion in debt and faced at least 26 lawsuits for vendor non-payment. Among other disputes, the company stopped paying rent at some of its San Francisco offices and was reportedly refusing to pay Google for use of its cloud infrastructure.
The case is X Corp v Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, in the California Superior Court (County of San Francisco), Case No. CGC-23-607461.
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan