Court rejects Nadav Shoval's petition against OpenWeb ouster

Tel Aviv District Court Judge Ariel Zimmerman: The petition complains of an infringement of rights that do not exist.

The Tel Aviv District Court has rejected the petition by Nadav Shoval, founder of OpenWeb, for the cancelation of the decision by the company’s board of directors to dismiss him. Shoval claimed that the directors on his behalf had been removed and replaced with directors on behalf of the controlling shareholders in the company, venture capital funds Insight Partners and Georgian, and that his dismissal was therefore illegal.

Shoval founded OpenWeb, a privately-held unicorn company, tried to prove in the legal proceedings that he brought last month that his dismissal was illegal and that it was liable to damage the company, among other things because he enjoyed the support of its customer, major news sites such as Fox News and Popular Science.

In rejecting Shoval’s petition, Judge Ariel Zimmermann wrote: "The petition was filed improperly, it complains of an infringement of rights that do not exist, and petitions for remedies for which there is no justification. OpenWeb’s board of directors repeatedly decided that Shoval should not continue to serve as CEO. Shoval has no vested right to serve as CEO: he forewent his rights, such as they were, so that investors would inject large sums of money into the company, and, according to the investors, into Shoval’s pocket. If he is not employed by the company, then would appear to have lost his right to appoint directors on his behalf, which in any case would not have helped him.

"In the absence of any right of the petitioner to hold on to the post of CEO, and given the time that passed between the dismissal and the petition, the upset that will be caused to the company, the lack of confidence of the directors in the petitioner, who disparages them severely in his petition, and the choice to conceal a highly important document from the court while petitioning for an ex parte injunction, the petition is to be rejected."

Zimmermann ruled that Shoval will bear legal costs of NIS 50,000.

Nadav Shoval said in a statement: "We are studying the ruling and considering all the legal options available to us. It must be stressed that this is a provisional ruling, and that the statement of claim filed against the directors is still outstanding, and I intend to proceed with it."

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 13, 2024.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.