Attention WFT Stockholders: Federal District Court Orders Publication of Summary Notice to Owners of Weatherford International plc Common Stock
April 6, 2015 (San Diego, CA) Shareholder law firm Robbins LLP reports that the Honorable Lewis A. Kaplan of the Unites States District Court for the Southern District of New York, presiding over the shareholder derivative action, Wandel v. Duroc-Danner, Case No. 1:12-cv-01305-LAK, ordered the publication via press release of the following notice to Weatherford International plc (NYSE: WFT) stockholders. The notice is also available on Weatherford, Federman & Sherwood and Robbins LLP websites. Please read this summary notice carefully and in its entirety. If you are a Weatherford Shareholder, your rights may be affected.
TO: ALL OWNERS OF WEATHERFORD INTERNATIONAL PLC (“WEATHERFORD” OR THE “COMPANY”) COMMON STOCK AS OF MARCH 23, 2015 WHO CONTINUE TO HOLD THEIR WEATHERFORD COMMON STOCK AS OF THE DATE OF THE SETTLEMENT HEARING (“WEATHERFORD SHAREHOLDERS”).
Summary Notice of Proposed Settlement and Settlement Hearing
You are hereby notified, pursuant to the March 23, 2015 Order Approving Notice entered in the above-referenced consolidated shareholder derivative action (the “New York Action”), that an Amended Stipulation of Settlement dated November 25, 2014 (the “Amended Stipulation” or “Settlement”) has been entered to resolve all shareholder derivative claims pending on behalf of nominal defendant Weatherford, currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Court”), as well as the derivative action captioned Iron Workers Mid-South Pension Fund v. Duroc-Danner, et al., No. 201119822 in the District Court for the 190th Judicial District in Harris County, Texas (the “Texas Action,” together with the New York Action, the “Actions”).
As a result of the settlement of the Actions, Weatherford shall, should the Settlement become Final, within ninety (90) calendar days after entry of the Judgment by the Court, formally adopt and implement the corporate governance reforms and enhancements identified in Exhibit A attached to the Amended Stipulation for a period of no less than 6 years. Defendants acknowledge and agree that the corporate governance reforms identified in Exhibit A attached to the Amended Stipulation confer a material benefit upon Weatherford and its shareholders. Defendants also acknowledge that the prosecution and settlement of the Actions were a material and contributing factor in the Board’s and Senior Management’s approval, adoption and implementation of the corporate governance reforms set forth in Exhibit A.
On June 24, 2015, at 9:30 a.m., a hearing (the “Settlement Hearing”) will be held before the Honorable Lewis A. Kaplan, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, New York, New York 10007 to determine whether the terms of the Settlement, including an award of attorneys’ fees and expenses to Plaintiffs’ Counsel in the Actions, as set forth in the Amended Stipulation, are fair, reasonable, and adequate. The Settlement provides that Plaintiffs' Counsel shall apply to the Court for an award of attorneys’ fees in the amount of $550,000 and no more than $45,000 in reimbursement of expenses, which Defendants will not oppose. The Parties agree and acknowledge that a request of $550,000 and no more than $45,000 in reimbursement of expenses is fair and reasonable in light of the work performed by Plaintiffs’ Counsel, provided, however, that any award is subject to the approval of the Court, which is not bound to approve the amounts requested. Any fee and expense amount approved by the Court shall constitute full and complete payment for Plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees in connection with the Action.
This is a summary notice only. For additional information about the claims asserted in the New York Action and the terms of the proposed Settlement, please refer to the documents filed with the Court in the New York Action, the Amended Stipulation and the full-length Notice of Proposed Settlement and Settlement Hearing (the “Notice”), available at http://www.federmanlaw.com/oklahoma-settlements, www.robbinsarroyo.com/notices, and http://www.weatherford.com/InvestorRelations/CorporateGovernance.
If you owned Weatherford common stock as of the date of the execution of the Amended Stipulation and continue to hold your Weatherford common stock as of the date of Settlement Hearing, excluding the Individual Defendants, the officers and directors of Weatherford, members of their immediate families, and their legal representatives, heirs, successors, or assigns, and any entity in which Individual Defendants have or had a controlling interest, you will be bound by the Final Order and Judgment of the Court granting final approval to the Settlement, and shall be deemed to have waived the right to object (including the right to appeal) and forever shall be barred, in this proceeding or in any other proceeding, from raising such objection.
Any objections to the Settlement must be filed on or before on or before June 10, 2015 in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Notice.
PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT OR WEATHERFORD REGARDING THIS SUMMARY NOTICE.