ipl-logo

Pennzoil Vs Getty Oil Case

540 Words3 Pages

In 1984, Pennzoil, Co. made an informal, but binding, contract with Getty Oil. The contract detailed that Pennzoil was to purchase a portion of Getty Oil, which would allow Pennzoil access to Getty Oil’s oil deposits. The contract detailed that Pennzoil would be buying 16 million shares of Getty at $100 per share, plus a $5 “stub”. On January 4, 1984, the public relations staff and lawyers of Getty, released a press statement. Pennzoil followed suit and issued an identical press release. The same day, Mr. Boisi, of Getty Oil, continued contacting other companies in hopes of finding a higher bid than Pennzoil offered. Texaco was contacted that day and began coming up with a counter offer. Also on January 4, the Pennzoil lawyers were at work …show more content…

The case started in Texas state court, where Pennzoil stated that Texaco forced Getty into breaking its contract with Pennzoil in order to obtain it for themselves. The Texas state court jury awarded Pennzoil $7.53 billion in compensatory damages and $3 billion in punitive damages. On top of that, according to Texas law, Pennzoil had access to secure a lien on all Texaco property in the state. Texaco could post a bond that covered all costs of the lawsuits to wave the lien. That bond was estimated to be $13 billion. However, before Pennzoil could obtain the lien, Texaco filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit alleged that the Texas preceding violated Texaco’s constitutional rights. The court ruled in favor of Texaco. From there the case went to the US Supreme Court. Pennzoil appealed the federal court case, and the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Pennzoil this time, stating that the New York court had no business interfering with the decision of a state court. After that Texaco also appealed the Texas state court decision. After deliberation, the jury upheld the verdict, but reduced the punitive damages to $1 million, instead of the $3 million. Compensatory damages still stood unchanged at $7.53 billion. After the verdict, Texaco filed for bankruptcy and Pennzoil agreed to settle the case for $3

Show More
Related
557 Words | 3 Pages

Introduction The Clarkson v. Orkin Exterminating Co. Inc. case took place in the year 1985. Mrs. Clarkson sued Orkin Exterminating Co. Inc. for three distinct charges. Orkin had a contract with both the previous owner of which Mrs. Clarkson inherited after purchasing the house. The agreement stated that Orkin Exterminating Company was to be paid a certain amount of money to handle exterminating practices in this case; spraying of termites.

Read More
214 Words | 1 Pages

Nature of the Case: The amount of damages owed to a wrongfully discharged employee, when the promising entity chooses to not hold up their end of the contract instead attempting to mitigate the potential damages with an offer of employment in a lesser project. Facts: The Plaintiff, actress Shirley Maclaine was contracted with the defendant to perform in a musical called “Bloomer Girl”. However the defendant, Twentieth Century-Fox chose not to produce the film instead choosing to produce a western titled “Big Country, Big Man”.

Read More
454 Words | 2 Pages

To determine if a particular provision is for liquidated damages or for a penalty, a court must answer two questions: 1.) When the contract was entered into, was it apparent that damages would be difficult to estimate in the event of a breach? 2.) Was the amount set as damages a reasonable estimate and excessive (Clarkson, Miller, Cross, p. 354,

Read More
116 Words | 1 Pages

They had settled down with KK Glass. However, they brought LLC to a jury, and the trial court decided that LCC should give the Harrisons for 7.9 million of compensatory damages and 5 million for punitive damages. LCC appealed the judgment of the trial court to the court of appeals, but the previous decision was affirmed with a deduction of 450 thousands.

Read More
409 Words | 2 Pages

The complaint sought damages for civil theft, fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, conversion, conspiracy to commit conversion, constructive trust, unjust enrichment, fraudulent transfer, conspiracy to effect a fraudulent transfer, and equitable lien (FindLaw's). Once the criminal charges were resolved, Therma Builders moved for summary judgment in the civil action, contending that Peterson was stalling her liability to Therma Builders in the civil action. Then on November 1, 2005 the trail court granted final summary judgement in favor of Therma Builders in the civil action. Peterson appeals this final summary judgement, challenging both the finding of liability and the amount of damages awarded. The final summary judgment contains no findings as to the amount of damages for which Peterson is civilly liable to Therma Builders.

Read More
525 Words | 3 Pages

Holding: (What rule, definition or standard did the court use to resolve the dispute?) Kirkpatricks ' complaint against Transamerica Insurance Company adequately states a cause of action, in which the court reversed the lower courts decision and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with the appellate courts

Read More
623 Words | 3 Pages

Since liquidated damages provisions can produce harsh results, the terms must be clear and meet certain requirements to be enforced. However, when the contract is executed, actual damages upon a default must be first uncertain or difficult to compute, and that the agreed-upon amount must be a reasonable approximation of the potential loss. The court found that the $1 Million amount met the basic requirements for a valid liquidated damages clause as Adelphia presented the evidence when Phelan signed the contract there were $600,000 annual property carrying costs, marketing costs, property resell uncertainty and price when it

Read More
502 Words | 3 Pages

Jan acknowledges his situation, “The whole idea of lawsuits is to settle, to compel the other side to settle” [1]. In fact, he uses this reasoning to his advantage by demanding a total of 320 million dollars from both companies. The case is drawn out and both businesses stubbornly refuse to take responsibility, Cheeseman arguing that, “These chemicals never reached Wells G and H - we will show that. And they never made anyone sick. We will show that, too” [1] while Fascher, representing Beatrice Foods, explaining that, “Unless you've proven that poisons reached the wells, there's no case” [1].

Read More
1095 Words | 5 Pages

Several years later, in May of 2012, the Court granted that partial summary judgement, given by the plaintiffs on neglect and wrongful death, would be given to the defendants. In addition to that, in August of 2012, the Court had decided that the defendants were not performing the discretionary function that should have been done. In spite of the devastating, traumatic event that transpired, the plaintiffs agreed to settle for $500,000 at the end of

Read More
1544 Words | 7 Pages

The total buyout by wellton, Mohawk irrigation

Read More
219 Words | 1 Pages

J.P. Morgan and Jay Gould had a big responsibility for price skimming taking the upper hand or “area transportation

Read More
1011 Words | 5 Pages

Teresa's case was submitted to the jury on the counts alleging breach of contract, negligence and wantonness, and the tort of outrage.   The jury returned a verdict against Akins and in favor of both plaintiffs.   The jury assessed compensatory damages at $450,000 and punitive damages at $150,000, for a total of $600,000 in Megan's case; in Teresa's case, the jury assessed compensatory damages of $200,000 and punitive damages of $150,000, for a total of $350,000.”

Read More
470 Words | 2 Pages

There are many controversial issues concerning the Texas for Lawsuit Reform. Some include Asbestos, which “is the longest-running mass tort in the nation, and a classic example of lawyer-driven lawsuit abuse” (tortreform.com). Consumer Protection, where “Texas’ consumer production laws were being used by attorneys pursuing all kinds of civil cases, not just lawsuits involving ordinary consumers” (tortreform.com). Courts and Judges, “Our legal system cannot function without competent, fair and honest judges to interpret and apply the laws” (tortreform.com). Frivolous Litigation, frivolous lawsuits are not based on facts or the law and the Texas Legislature and Supreme Court are trying to strengthen the law to ensure lawsuits do not tie up

Read More
502 Words | 3 Pages

So, Gucci hired an private investigator to purchase a wallet from his website as a presented evidence for plagiarism and also fields a lawsuit which is trademark infringement to against Wang Huoqing in a federal district court in California to ask for compensation and prohibit more infringement. While, Wang Huoqing did not show up at that day, then, Gucci asked the court to enter a default judgment, however, the court need to determine whether it has personal jurisdiction over Wang Huoqing

Read More
1327 Words | 6 Pages

At the same time, after the bid news release, MEG’s stock will be expected to increase. Marshall Morton has been MEG’s CEO since 2005, and Exhibit 6 shows that there existed 6 employee stock options from 2005 to 2011. Once MEG turns the business around, Marshall Morton would benefit a lot from the stock increase, not to mention rebuilding all shareholders’ confidence on

Read More

More about Pennzoil Vs Getty Oil Case

Related Topics

Open Document