A district court judge in Oklahoma has ordered Chesapeake Energy to enter arbitration in an attempt to settle its dispute with American Energy Partners.
In a lawsuit filed in February, Chesapeake accused its former CEO, Aubrey McClendon, of stealing important trade secrets before leaving the company in 2013 and then using the confidential information to build American Energy Partners.
Read more: Chesapeake Sues American Energy Partners
Attorneys for American Energy accused Chesapeake of using gimmicks to stay out of arbitration and Judge Thomas Prince agreed. Prince granted the request for arbitration, though it is unclear when it will begin.
“Chesapeake cannot escape its contractual commitment to arbitrate through the procedural gimmick of leaving Mr. McClendon’s name off.”
Last week, Chesapeake Energy reported 2015 first quarter loss of$3.8 billion. In spite of huge losses, CEO Yet Doug Lawler remained upbeat and focused on Chesapeake’s innovations.
Chesapeake is active all across the Eagle Ford including Atascosa County, Dimmit County, Duval County, Frio County, Goliad County, LaSalle County, McMullen County, Washington County, Webb County and Zavala County.