Norton Rose Fulbright earns complete defense verdict for Shell

A litigation team from Norton Rose Fulbright obtained a complete defense verdict for longtime client Shell in Eva-Maria Frohn vs. Shell US Hosting Company, Shell Trading (US) Company in the District Court of Harris County in Houston on April 23.

The plaintiff, a German-born UK expatriate living in the US who worked as a Crude Oil Trading Manager at Shell, asserted breach of contract and fraud claims against Shell, seeking payment of $16 million in conditional bonus and stock awards. Specifically, Ms. Frohn claimed that when she requested to return to the UK, she was entitled to retain her $16 million of conditional bonuses and valuable stock awards after her departure from the company.

Shell established that Ms. Frohn voluntarily resigned by refusing to accept a highly regarded special project role in the UK upon repatriation, resulting in her bonus and stock awards lapsing, with Shell owing her no further compensation or stock awards.

After two weeks of trial and hearing from several of the most senior executives from Shell Trading & Supply, the jury took less than one full day to deliver a complete defense verdict.

The Norton Rose Fulbright litigation team was led by Shauna Clark, the firm’s US Head of Employment and Labor as well as its US Chair (Houston), Richard Krumholz, its Global Head of Litigation and Disputes (Dallas), and Heather Sherrod (Houston), and were assisted by Doug Brown (Dallas) and Tamsin Woolley (Houston). Stephanie Perry (Dallas) and ReAnna Brown (Houston) provided additional support.