Law.Com via Newsday reports that Sam Wiley "the colorful Texas billionaire" has sued Milberg Weiss and other class action plaintiff’s law firms for their handling of the Computer Associates class action matter.  Essentially he charges the settled too soon and for too little, in order to grab legal fees prematurely.

"Wyly’s beef? He claims that Milberg and the others left billions on the table by prematurely settling a case so they could bank some $40 million in attorneys fees. The suit was filed in state court in Manhattan and alleges legal malpractice, fraud, unjust enrichment and breach of fiduciary duty. Here’s the story from Newsday.

Newsday reports that Wyly’s lawsuit centers on two shareholder lawsuits filed against CA — one in 1998 following a sharp drop in CA’s share price, and another in 2002 following news of an accounting probe at the company. The plaintiffs law firms effectively dropped the 2002 claims, according to the story. Wyly’s lawyer, William Brewer, told Newsday that the firms’ decision to effectively drop the claims in the 2002 suit “one of the most egregious cases of [legal] malpractice I’ve seen in 23 years.”

In addition to Milberg Weiss, the suit names as defendants Stull, Stull & Brody; Schiffrin Barroway; and Coughlin Stoia. Newsday reached neither the firms nor CA for comment.