Case Analysis Of Exxonmoil Corp. V. Drennen

772 Words2 Pages

In ExxonMobil Corp. v. Drennen , No. 12-0621, 2013 WL 9600951 (Tex. Aug. 29, 2014), the court was asked to consider the enforceability of restricted stock agreements that included New York choice-of-law clauses and called for the forfeiture of outstanding awards if a recipient engaged in "detrimental activity." After a former ExxonMobil Vice President accepted employment with a competitor, the company exercised the awards ' forfeiture provisions and determined that it would claw back approximately $5 million in unvested awards. The executive sued, claiming that the provisions amounted to overly broad non-competition clauses and therefore were unenforceable under Texas law. Although ExxonMobil prevailed after a jury trial, an appeals court sided with the executive and determined that, even if the New York law chosen in the restricted stock …show more content…

The court emphasized that ExxonMobil stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange, "New York has a well-developed and clearly defined body of law regarding employee stock and incentive programs," and ExxonMobil wanted "uniformity, certainty, and predictability in the application of its [i]ncentive [p]rograms." Notably, the court also emphasized Texas ' role in the larger economy and noted that, "[w]ith Texas now hosting many of the world 's largest corporations, our public policy has shifted from a patriarchal one in which we valued uniform treatment of Texas employees from one employer to the next above all else, to one in which we also value the ability of a company to maintain uniformity in its employment contracts across all employees, whether the individual employees reside in Texas or New

More about Case Analysis Of Exxonmoil Corp. V. Drennen

Open Document