Some Key Days in the Texaco-Pennzoil Battle
Undated (AP) _ Here are the important dates in the battle between Texaco Inc. and Pennzoil Co. over Getty Oil Co.: 1983
Dec. 28 - Pennzoil Co. launches a bid of $100 a share for about 20 percent of the stock of Getty, a company viewed as vulnerable because of feuding among principal shareholders. 1984
Jan. 1 - Pennzoil Chairman J. Hugh Liedtke and Gordon P. Getty, sole trustee for the holders of about 40 percent of Getty stock, discuss a plan under which Pennzoil would acquire three-sevenths of Getty Oil.
Jan. 2 - Representatives of Getty Oil contact Texaco and other large oil companies to invite competing bids.
Jan. 3 - Getty’s board, faced with a threat of removal by Gordon Getty, approves merger negotiations with Pennzoil at a minimum price of $112 a share.
Jan. 4 - Getty Oil and Pennzoil issue identical press releases announcing an agreement in principle ″subject to a definitive merger agreement.″ Getty Oil’s investment bankers advise Texaco that anyone is still free to bid.
Jan. 6 - Texaco reaches agreement to acquire Getty for $125 a share. The bid later is raised to $128.
Feb. 8 - Pennzoil sues Texaco in Houston, alleging Texaco wrongfully interfered in its merger agreement with Getty. It asks for $7.53 billion in actual damages and $7.53 billion in punitive damages. 1985
July 9 - The trial begins in Houston, with Judge Anthony Farris presiding.
Oct. 22 - Farris steps down because of illness, and Judge Solomon Casseb Jr. takes over the trial.
Nov. 19 - The jury returns a verdict in favor of Pennzoil, awarding it $7.53 billion in compensatory damages and $3 billion in punitive damages.
Dec. 10 - Casseb enters the judgment for the full amount of the verdict, plus $600 million in interest, for a total of $11.1 billion. Under Texas law, Texaco faces putting up a bond equal to the judgment while it appeals the case.
Dec. 17 - Texaco obtains a temporary order from U.S. District Judge Charles Brieant in White Plains, N.Y., barring Pennzoil from taking any action to enforce the Texas court order, such as seizing Texaco assets during its appeal.
Dec. 20 - Brieant suspends proceedings while the two companies try to negotiate a settlement. 1986
Jan. 7 - Pennzoil stock shoots up 30 percent on rumors it is near a settlement with Texaco, but Pennzoil announces at the end of the day its board of directors has rejected a merger offer from Texaco.
Jan. 9 - Brieant resumes proceedings on Texaco’s request for an injunction against Pennzoil. In Houston, Texaco asks for a new trial and seeks the removal of Casseb from the case.
Jan. 10 - Brieant grants an injunction against Pennzoil and rules Texaco must put up only $1 billion for a bond while it appeals the case in the Texas courts. Pennzoil says it will appeal the ruling.
Feb. 20 - A federal appeals court in New York upholds Brieant’s ruling.
March 7 - Texaco posts the bond with the district court clerk in Houston to initiate its appeal, pledging $1 billion of stock in its Canadian subsidiary.
June 23 - The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to review the appeals court decision.
July 31 - The Texas Court of Appeals hears arguments in Texaco’s appeal of the damage judgment. 1987
Jan. 12 - The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on Pennzoil’s request to overturn the New York appellate decision.
Feb. 12 - The Texas Court of Appeals upholds the $7.53 billion award in actual damages, but throws out two-thirds of the $3 billion in punitive damages originally awarded by the Houston jury.
April 6 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously that Brieant should not have gotten involved in the issue of Texaco’s bond before the Texas courts reviewed the matter. Texaco says it will appeal the bond issue to the Texas courts immediately, but warns an unfavorable ruling will force it into bankruptcy court reorganization.
April 7 - The Texas Court of Appeals puts the $11 billion bond requirement on hold until pending a hearing April 13.
April 12 - Texaco announces it has filed a petition seeking protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy law.
April 23 - Bankruptcy Court Judge Howard Schwartzberg of White Plains, N.Y., permits Texaco to resume its appeal of the case, which had been on hold since the Chapter 11 petition.
Nov. 2 - The Texas Supreme Court refuses to hear Texaco’s appeal, letting stand the judgment against Texaco, now worth $10.3 billion. Texaco says it will take its case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dec. 2 - The bankruptcy court gives Texaco 40 more days in which it will have the exclusive right to file its own reorganization plan. But the judge says he will vacate the order if Pennzoil and Texaco’s creditors agree on a settlement plan to be voted on by shareholders.
Dec. 7 - The judge clarifies his Dec. 2 ruling, saying the Texaco shareholders committee must approve any settlement proposal before it goes to all the shareholders for a vote.
Dec. 11 - Pennzoil announces it has agreed with the shareholders committee on a settlement plan that would pay Pennzoil $3 billion payment. The proposal still must be approved by the creditors’ committee before it can be presented to the court.