The owner of TransPerfect said a federal court decision marked a victory in a suit against Chancellor Andre Bouchard.
A Delaware U.S. District Court ruling stopped short of intervening in the suit filed by TransPerfect owner Philip Shawe.
In another development, Bouchard issued a discharge order for the custodian appointed to supervise the sale of the company.
“We consider the ruling a victory in that the Federal Court found Chancellor Bouchard ordered TransPerfect to pay ‘$44 million in undocumented fees’ to his former law firm. It also put Bouchard and the Chancery Court on notice, which will help prevent future violations of civil rights,” TransPerfect owner Shawe said.
Martin Russo, lead attorney for Shawe remained critical of Bouchard: “The chancellor and his highly paid lawyers orchestrated the reversal of the offending order to game the system and avoid the finding of unconstitutionality in federal court. It is a clear admission of the inequity that was imposed upon TransPerfect and Mr. Shawe,”
The long-running case came after the 50-50 owners of the business services company, Shawe and Elizabeth Elting could not agree on a sale and the matter ended up before Chancery Court.
Bouchard appointed a custodian for the company who determined that Shawe should buy out Elting.
Shawe has been critical of the Chancellor and custodian’s actions throughout the process filed suit over what he viewed as a lack of details in billing for services performed by the custodian. Other suits were filed.
Also surfacing during the sale process was Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware, an organization that called for reforms to the judicial system and demanded the appointment of a Black chancellor to succeed Bouchard.
Bouchard is retiring as Chancellor on April 30.
