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Home > OMDA Oil & Gas, Inc. v. Porcari

OMDA Oil & Gas, Inc. v. Porcari [1]

Submitted by DMLP Staff on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 09:13

Summary

Threat Type: 

Lawsuit

Date: 

03/01/2007

Status: 

Pending

Disposition: 

Injunction Denied
Injunction Issued

Location: 

Texas

Verdict or Settlement Amount: 

N/A

Legal Claims: 

Defamation
Trade Libel
OMDA Oil & Gas sued Arthur J. Porcari after he posted comments on private investor boards including the Yahoo! OMDA Investor Chat Board. In June 2004, Porcari, a large stockholder of publicly traded shares in OMDA, told the Chairman of OMDA Adam... read full description
Parties

Party Receiving Legal Threat: 

Arthur J. Porcari

Type of Party: 

Organization

Type of Party: 

Individual

Location of Party: 

  • Texas

Location of Party: 

  • Texas

Legal Counsel: 

Murray W. Camp

Legal Counsel: 

David F. Morris
Description

OMDA Oil & Gas sued Arthur J. Porcari after he posted comments on private investor boards including the Yahoo! OMDA Investor Chat Board.

In June 2004, Porcari, a large stockholder of publicly traded shares in OMDA, told the Chairman of OMDA Adam Barnett that he believed that OMDA shares were undervalued and offered to assist the firm in expanding its operations. Barnett accepted the offer, and Porcari took over the firm's communications operations (he did not, however, become an officer of the company). In March 2006, Barnett and Porcari had a falling out over Barnett's management of the company, and Barnett put an end to Porcari's work for OMDA.

Before and after his involvement with Barnett, Porcari posted comments on the Yahoo! chat board criticizing OMDA's management and replying to Barnett's posts.

On March 1, 2007, OMDA sued Porcari in Texas state court, alleging that his Yahoo! posts were defamatory, constituted business disparagement, and breached Porcari's fiduciary duties to OMDA by disclosing confidential information obtained during his involvement with the firm.

The trial court granted OMDA a temporary injunction restraining Porcari from publishing defamatory, disparaging or negative statements about OMDA or any of its officers, directors, members, shareholders or affiliates, and from disclosing information he obtained between June 1, 2004 and March 31, 2006.

In June 2007, Porcari appealed the trial court's grant of the injunction. In October, a Texas appellate court reversed the trial court's decision, finding that the injunction constituted an unconsistutional prior restraint on Porcari's speech. The court ruled that claims of defamation and trade libel are not themselves sufficient to justify prohibiting a litigant from making negative statements about a company because damages can redress the harm. The court further held that the order requiring Porcari to refrain from disclosing any information obtained in the period from June 2004 to March 2006 was overbroad in restricting Porcari from communicating matters of public knowledge, rather than restricting the disclosure of confidential information only.

Update:

1/7/2008 - OMDA filed a petition for review [2] to the Texas Supreme Court.

06/06/2008 - OMDA's petition to the Texas Supreme Court was dismissed [3] for want of jurisdiction. (scroll down or Ctrl+F "porcari")

Related Links: 

OMDA Shareholder Bulletin discussing the lawsuit [4]

Court of Appeals, Fifth District of Texas: Case Docket [5]

HTML Version of Appellate Opinion Reversing Grant of Injunction [6]

[6]

Details

Web Site(s) Involved: 

OMOG OMDA Oil and Gas News Chat [7]

Content Type: 

  • Text

Publication Medium: 

Forum

Subject Area: 

  • Defamation
  • Trade Libel
  • Prior Restraints
Court Information & Documents

Jurisdiction: 

  • Texas

Source of Law: 

  • Texas

Court Name: 

District Court of Dallas County, Texas; Court of Appeals, Fifth District of Texas, at Dallas

Court Type: 

State

Case Number: 

No. 07-01850-M (trial level); No. 05-07-00390-CV (appellate level)

Relevant Documents: 

PDF icon Appellate brief.pdf [8]
PDF icon 2008-01-07-OMDA Petition for Review by Texas Supreme Court.pdf [9]
CMLP Information (Private)

CMLP Notes: 

In a shareholder bulletin, the Chairman mentions that a letter was sent to Porcari prior to the litigation. Jill has not been able to find out anything about what was in the letter.

to-do: finish entry for letter threat

Status updated 6/6/2008, OMDA trying to appeal the Appeals Court decision. (AAB)

06/18/2009 - updated to include Texas Supreme Court's denial of OMDA's appeal (LB)

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Source URL (modified on 08/20/2014 - 11:04pm): https://www.dmlp.org/threats/omda-oil-gas-inc-v-porcari

Links
[1] https://www.dmlp.org/threats/omda-oil-gas-inc-v-porcari
[2] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2008-01-07-OMDA%20Petition%20for%20Review%20by%20Texas%20Supreme%20Court.pdf
[3] http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/historical/2008/jun/060608.htm
[4] http://www.omogoil.com/new/omog031207pocari.pdf
[5] http://www.5thcoa.courts.state.tx.us/files/05/07/05070390.HTM
[6] http://www.5thcoa.courts.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/as_web.exe?c05_08.ask+D+948957
[7] http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/OMOG-/
[8] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/Appellate%20brief.pdf
[9] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2008-01-07-OMDA%20Petition%20for%20Review%20by%20Texas%20Supreme%20Court.pdf