A Delaware judge ruled on Monday that the Tesla chief, Elon Musk, still is not entitled to receive a $56bn compensation package despite shareholders of the electric vehicle company voting to reinstate it.

The ruling by the judge, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the court of chancery, follows her January decision that called the pay package excessive and rescinded it, surprising investors, and cast uncertainty over Musk’s future at the world’s most valuable carmaker.

Tesla has said in court filings that the judge should recognize a subsequent June vote by its shareholders in favor of the pay package for Musk, the company’s driving force who is responsible for many of its advances, and reinstate his compensation. Tesla and its shareholders argued that Musk had reached the milestones originally stipulated when the pay package was drawn up.

McCormick also ordered Tesla to pay the attorneys who brought the case $345m, well short of the billions they initially requested.

Tesla originally devised Musk’s payment package in 2017, setting conditions for Musk to receive 12 different tranches of stock options depending on whether the company hit certain revenue and market targets. Shareholders approved that package by a wide margin in 2018, but one investor filed a suit claiming that the board had been misleading and the package was unfair.

McCormick previously ruled that Tesla’s board conducted a “deeply flawed” process to determine Musk’s payment.

McCormick found that the board was rife with personal conflicts and stacked with Musk’s close allies, such as his former divorce attorney.