Six years ago, a single Tesla shareholder—with just nine shares to his name—sued the electric vehicle company, arguing that CEO Elon Musk’s $56 billion compensation package was unfair. The shareholder’s lawyers, in turn, saw a jackpot for themselves in the making.
Last week, a Delaware judge sided with this lone shareholder, despite 72 percent of Tesla shareholders’ previously voting to approve Musk’s compensation package—not once, but twice. In the end, the shareholder’s lawyers could walk away from this fight with up to $345 million in legal fees, earning themselves a jaw-dropping $18,000 per hour for their work. That is preposterous, even in the legal profession.
President Donald Trump has spent years excoriating the myriad abuses of America’s legal system. The 45th and soon-to-be 47th president has also faced nonstop litigation throughout his career—and, most recently, prosecutorial abuses unprecedented in the history of the republic.