Enron and Compaq Shareholders Say|Attorney Overbilled Them in Class Actions

HOUSTON (CN) - A class action claims attorney Thomas Bilek grossly overbilled clients for work on Enron securities litigation and falsely told a federal judge that his firm spent more than 4,000 hours on the case to justify $16 million in attorneys fees. A second class action claims Bilek overbilled clients in a Compaq shareholders suit, claiming 2,000 hours to justify $8 million in fees.

Both class actions were filed in Harris County Court. The Enron class claims that "as a result of Bilek's misrepresentations, Bilek received attorney's fees exceeding $16 million."

This class claims Bilek "provided to the court information that was in some cases patently and demonstrably false, and in other cases grossly exaggerated in order to justify a fee for him and the law firms with whom he was affiliated.

Named as defendants in both cases are Hoefner and Bilek LLP, the Bilek Law Firm LLP, and Thomas Bilek.

The named plaintiff in the Enron case, Michael Brown, was an Enron shareholder. This case involves the consolidated class action against Enron that began in 2001 in Houston Federal Court. It was settled in 2008.

Brown claims that Bilek made "patently false" claims in a 107-page document he submitted to the court to justify his legal fees.

The Compaq class makes similar allegations. Its lead plaintiff is Lilia Mistetsky.

Both classes demand disgorgement and punitive damages for breach of duty and fraud. Both are represented by Anthony Buzbee.

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