According to an investor lawsuitfiled in Delaware Chancery Court, the non-employee directors on the Facebook board were paid $461,000 on average in stock last year; thereby implying that Facebook exceeded its industry peers - like Amazon. com and Walt Disney Co - by as much as 43 percent.

The lawsuit, filed by Ernesto Espinoza, asserts that Facebook's program of allowing the directors of the company to set their own pay amounts to "unjust enrichment" and a waste of corporate assets.

In addition, Espinoza has also said in the complaint that Facebook's program of allowing the directors to set their own pay rate gives them the leeway "to continue to award themselves virtually any amount of compensation they choose into perpetuity."

Expressing the hope that the "excessive compensation" doled out to the non-employee Facebook directors will be recouped by the shareholders, Espinoza has essentially drawn attention to the fact that Facebook's 2012 equity incentive plan- which also covers employees, officers and consultants - gives the social network's board the ability "to grant itself whatever amount of compensation it chooses."

Meanwhile, in response to Espinoza's complaint, Facebook has said that the lawsuit filed by Espinoza is "without merit;" and added that the company will defend itself "vigorously."