The law firms had at all at one point represented Paul Ceglia, who claimed in a 2010 lawsuit that Mark Zuckerberg signed away an 84 per cent ownership stake in Facebook to him when he was in college. Mr Ceglia was later indicted on mail and wire fraud charges for allegedly doctoring the contract around which the suit centred, and has been a fugitive since March.

Lending credibility

Facebook sued the law firms in 2014, on the grounds that they gave credibility to Mr Ceglia’s lawsuit and should have been aware that it was based on fraud. However, in December a panel of judges in the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division said they had seen inadequate evidence that the firms knew or should have known.

‘Immunises lawyers’

Facebook isn’t taking this lying down and is now trying to get permission from the Appellate Division to reargue its case or to take it to the New York Court of Appeals. In a motion filed last Thursday, the company argues that by rejecting the case, the court ‘effectively immunises lawyers who proceed in the face of clear evidence of fraud.’ Sources: Law 360; The Wall Street Journal