Liquor Tycoon Escapes $123M Judgment for Failed Oil Project

Texas doesn’t have to enforce a roughly $123 million Moroccan judgment against haircare and liquor tycoon John Paul DeJoria, a federal appeals court ruled Aug. 15.

In siding with DeJoria, the appeals court held that a mid-case change in Texas law concerning the recognition of foreign judgments didn’t violate the state constitution’s ban on retroactive laws.

DeJoria, a co-founder of the Paul Mitchell line of hair products and The Patrón Spirits Co., helped start Lone Star Energy Corp. in Morocco with the assistance of a cousin of King Mohammed VI. But the promised oil reserves didn’t materialize, and ...