Chesapeake Energy Settles With Estate of Former CEO
February 13 2017 - 4:20PM
Dow Jones News
By Erin Ailworth
Chesapeake Energy Corp. and the estate of its former chief
executive, the late Aubrey McClendon, have agreed to settle a legal
dispute involving claims that Mr. McClendon stole sensitive
documents from Chesapeake to start a rival company.
The Oklahoma City-based company was seeking $445 million in
damages from Mr. McClendon's estate for the alleged theft of maps
and data. The company said Mr. McClendon took that information with
him when he was ousted in 2013 and used it to start American Energy
Partners LP.
As part of the settlement filed earlier this month in Oklahoma
County District Court, Chesapeake has agreed to drop that claim and
pay $3.25 million in legal fees. In exchange, Mr. McClendon's
estate is dropping claims to any compensation still owed under Mr.
McClendon's separation agreement with Chesapeake. That includes
cash, stock and the use of a corporate jet.
The agreement must still be accepted by the court, which is
overseeing a series of probate claims by creditors against the
estate of the late wildcatter, who died in a fiery car crash last
year. A hearing has been set for March 8.
Chesapeake declined to comment on the settlement. A
representative for Mr. McClendon's estate couldn't immediately be
reached.
Mr. McClendon, co-founder of Chesapeake, was ousted as CEO in
2013 after a shareholder revolt. He soon launched American Energy,
setting up shop nearby and hiring many former Chesapeake
employees.
Chesapeake sued its former leader two years later, claiming he
had founded his new business using maps of oil and gas prospects
and other confidential data taken from Chesapeake. American Energy
denied those allegations, saying the information Mr. McClendon took
was rightfully his under the terms of his termination.
Mr. McClendon died in March 2016 after crashing his
natural-gas-fueled Chevy Tahoe into a bridge. A day earlier, he had
been indicted on a single count of conspiring to rig the price of
oil and gas leases. The charge was dropped after his death.
Authorities ruled his crash an accident.
Write to Erin Ailworth at Erin.Ailworth@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 13, 2017 16:05 ET (21:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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