A Delaware dispute between oil exploration company EnVen Energy Corp. and its former president is on hold pending resolution of a lawsuit filed earlier in Texas.
Vice Chancellor Kathaleen S. McCormick of Delaware’s Court of Chancery Thursday rejected former EnVen President David M. Dunwoody Jr.'s request to throw out the case entirely. But she found that staying the case was the appropriate course of action.
EnVen, which is based in Houston and incorporated in Delaware, sued Dunwoody in Delaware in July. EnVen alleges that Dunwoody’s father used his connections to get his son hired at EnVen, then took kickbacks for business his son arranged with one of the company’s vendors.
Dunwoody asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that his employment agreement with the company included a forum selection clause favoring Texas. EnVen’s Delaware suit was filed in retaliation for a suit he filed in Harris County, Texas, over similar issues, he said.
In an opinion filed Thursday, McCormick said the “forum selection clause in the Employment Agreement does not strip this Court of proper venue.”
Putting the Delaware case on hold would achieve the goals of “giving deference to Dunwoody’s chosen forum, avoiding waste of scarce judicial resources, and foreclosing potential conflicting rulings on common issues,” she said.
The case is Enven Energy Corp. v. Dunwoody, 2020 BL 198560, Del. Ch., No. 2019-0579, 5/28/20.
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