Elon Musk’s fight with Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz over $90 million in legal fees billed to X Corp. is headed to arbitration.
A San Francisco judge on Tuesday granted Wachtell’s request to arbitrate the dispute, over a “success fee” for the law firm’s work on Twitter Inc.'s successful bid to force Musk’s purchase of the company. The law firm and Twitter—which Musk later rebranded X Corp.—previously agreed to arbitrate such disputes, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer Jr. said.
“The parties clearly and unmistakably” delegated the issue to arbitration, Ulmer wrote in a Thursday decision. The ruling came a day after Ulmer issued a tentative decision siding with Wachtell.
X Corp. sued Wachtell in July, challenging the $90 million fee paid to Wachtell following the closing of Twitter’s $44 billion sale to Musk amounted to “unjust enrichment.” The company claimed that it had agreed to pay the firm’s lawyers on an hourly basis.
Jordan Eth and Ragesh Tangri from Morrison & Foerster are representing Wachtell. Reid Collins & Tsai is representing X. A spokesperson for Wachtell declined to comment on the ruling.
The case is: X Corp. vs. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, No. CGC-23-607461, California Superior Court (7/5/2023).
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