Facebook's 'Co-Creators' Ordered to Pay Their Lawyers $13M

It looks like The Social Network could have a real life sequel.

Quinn Emanuel law firm will receive its $13 million contingency fee for representing the alleged Facebook co-creators and their business, ConnectU, and obtaining a $65 million settlement. A New York judge denied the attempts by the clients to stay the contingency award until their settlement dispute with Facebook is resolved.

(Wait a minute. I saw that movie. Mark Zuckerberg already settled with those guys, right? Well, yeah, but...)

Now the alleged co-creators, the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra, are asking to have the settlement overturned. They argue that their attorneys committed malpractice when they failed to obtain a recent valuation of Facebook before the settlement. An arbitration panel disagreed and said that it is time for the three former Harvard students to pay up. They are appealing that decision.

ConnectU also accused Facebook of securities fraud earlier this year, alleging that they lied about the value of Facebook stock. Nevertheless, the Judge said that the Quinn Emanuel firm has waited long enough. "The respondents have waited over two years for its fee, and have had to oppose several attempts to delay the payment," Judge Lowe said. "To continue to stall payment of the award would be to frustrate the very purpose of and reason for the arbitration."

In another strange twist, that $65 million settlement figure was supposed to have been confidential. It also became known because Quinn Emanuel created an advertisement listing successful cases, bragging "It's Our Opponents Who Need A Bailout." They listed the amount of the Facebook settlement in the ad. Ooops.

On second thought, perhaps this wouldn't make for such a great movie. It's all a bit confusing and the wheels of justice just turn way to slow for the silver screen.

Related Resources:

• Juror Expelled for Posting Verdict on Facebook. (FindLaw's Blotter)
• Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release (FindLaw's Blotter)
• Faceporn Site Offline After Lawsuit By Facebook (FindLaw's Common Law)