Neff v. Brady

527 S.W.3d 511, 2017 WL 2806784, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 5975
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 29, 2017
DocketNO. 01-15-00544-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 527 S.W.3d 511 (Neff v. Brady) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Neff v. Brady, 527 S.W.3d 511, 2017 WL 2806784, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 5975 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

Terry Jennings, Justice

Appellants, Terry Neff and Iron Workers Mid-South Pension Fund, derivatively on behalf of nominal defendant, Weather-ford International, Ltd., a Swiss Corporation (‘Weatherford”), challenge the trial court’s orders dismissing them claims for breach of fiduciary duty, abuse of control, and corporate waste against appellees, Nicholas F. Brady, David J. Butters, William E. Macaulay, Robert B. Millard, Robert K. Moses, Jr., Robert A. Rayne, Bernard J. Duroc-Danner (collectively, “the directors”), Burt M. Martin, and Weather-ford. In four issues, appellants contend that the trial court erred in granting the pleas to the jurisdiction and special exceptions of the directors and Weatherford, granting the special exceptions of Martin, and' granting the special appearances of Brady, Butters, Macaulay, Millard, Moses, and Rayne.

We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.

Background

In their Consolidated Petition,1 appellants allege that Weatherford is a global oil and gas services company that is head[517]*517quartered in Houston, is publicly-traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and has market presence in over 100 countries in the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. As an issuer of publicly-traded securities, Weatherford’s business and operations are subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), which prohibits companies from making improper payments, such as bribes or kickbacks, to foreign officials in order to obtain or retain business.2 To prevent such illicit payments, the FCPA requires companies to establish and maintain a system of accounting controls.3 According to appellants, some of the countries in which Weatherford conducts its operations present higher risks for corruption because they have cultures in which requests for improper payments are not discouraged and have less-developed regulatory structures. Notwithstanding, the directors failed to implement certain controls, procedures, and processes necessary to comply with the FCPA.

Appellants further allege that, from 2002 to 2011, Weatherford representatives authorized or paid bribes to foreign officials in Africa and the Middle East in order to obtain or retain business. They paid kickbacks to foreign officials in Iraq to obtain United Nations Oil-for-Food contracts. And, from 2002 to 2007, they violated United States sanctions and export laws by conducting business in and with Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria. Although Weather-ford’s schemes boosted its revenues by $118 million and its profits by $89 million, they exposed Weatherford to substantial penalties and losses for violations of the FCPA, In 2007, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) launched an investigation into Weatherford’s practices and compli-anee with the FCPA. While the governmental investigations were pending, Weatherford publicly announced that it, through its own internal investigations, had discovered potential violations of United States law in connection with its joint venture in Angola.

From 2002 to February 2009, Weather-ford was incorporated in the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda (‘Weatherford Bermuda”). On February 26, 2009, Weath-erford created a new corporate entity and re-domesticated to Switzerland (Weather-ford Switzerland”), where it presently remains. Weatherford Switzerland became the parent of Weatherford Bermuda, a wholly-owned subsidiary. Brady, Butters, Macaulay, Millard, Moses, Rayne, and Duroc-Danner served as directors of Weath-erford Bermuda and then as directors of Weatherford Switzerland. And Martin served as Weatherford Bermuda’s senior vice president and general counsel.

On March 1, 2010, Weatherford disclosed to its shareholders that the governmental investigations into its possible violations of the FCPA could adversely affect its operations and financial condition. Thereafter, the price of Weatherford’s shares began to decline. On March 25, 2010, Neff made his initial purchase of shares in Weatherford. On May 3, 2010, Weatherford disclosed to its shareholders that it would likely be subject to penalties imposed by the DOJ and SEC. On July 10, 2010, Neff filed the instant suit. And, in December 2010, Iron Workers Mid-South Pension Fund made its initial purchase of shares in Weatherford.

In 2013, the DOJ and SEC concluded that Weatherford had committed several FCPA violations. For instance, from 2002 to 2011, Weatherford authorized bribes to [518]*518obtain or retain business; engaged in commercial transactions with sanctioned countries in violation of United States sanctions and export control laws; failed to implement sufficient accounting controls to detect and prevent payments of bribes and improper sales to sanctioned countries; engaged in transactions that were incorrectly described in its books and records; and created false accounting records. During the DOJ and SEC investigations, Weatherford Switzerland incurred over $169 million in FCPA-related expenses. And it subsequently resolved the enforcement actions, in part, by agreeing to pay $252 million in fines and penalties.

On behalf of Weatherford, appellants assert that the directors breached their fiduciary duties, abused their control, and committed corporate waste. The directors were aware that Weatherford’s international business operations required compliance with the PCPA, and they had a fiduciary duty to Weatherford to implement and maintain accounting, financial, and internal controls and systems to ensure such compliance. And the SEC concluded that the directors failed to implement and maintain internal accounting controls for compliance with the FCPA’s books and records provisions. Further, the directors breached their fiduciary duties by making false and misleading statements in Weath-erford’s annual reports about its revenues, profits, and its FCPA compliance. They caused Weatherford to issue false and misleading proxy statements to Weatherford shareholders. And, their conduct constituted an abuse of their control and influence over Weatherford and a waste of its corporate assets.

Appellants further assert that the directors’ acts and omissions caused Weath-erford to be “severely injured and damaged.” In addition to paying millions of dollars in fines, penalties, and costs, Weatherford will incur millions of dollars more in costs from the appointment of a Corporate Monitor and the implementation of various remedial measures. Thus, appellants seek actual and exemplary damages on behalf of Weatherford.

Weatherford, as nominal defendant, filed a plea to the jurisdiction, in which the directors and Martin joined. They argued that appellants lack standing to bring derivative claims on behalf of Weatherford for the acts and omissions of the directors of Weatherford Bermuda that pre-date Weatherford’s February 26, 2009 re-domestication to Switzerland because such claims are governed by the laws of Bermuda, which prohibit shareholder-derivative claims, absent narrow exceptions not applicable here. They also assert that neither the laws of Bermuda nor Switzerland recognize appellants’ claims, which are double-derivative.4

Weatherford also filed special exceptions, in which the directors and Martin joined, challenging appellants’ claims concerning the directors’ acts and omissions that occurred from 2009 to 2011.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
527 S.W.3d 511, 2017 WL 2806784, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 5975, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/neff-v-brady-texapp-2017.