The Sinsinatian judge ordered the former Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen to explain – writing – why he resigned unexpectedly in March, forcing him to face what his lawyers call “completely irrelevant” and “ashamed” issues in a lawsuit.
McMullen, who has been led by the Sinsinians for more than a decade, resigned after what the Kroger described as a study of his “personal behavior”. Based on the SEC application, McMullen lost all its non -participation and bonuses – a total of $ 11 million.
This solution raised eyebrows to Eric Chaffee, Case Western Reserve University Corporation Law Professor. “Usually the CEO has a negative protection if they leave,” he said Fate; “The fact that he wanted to give up it could give some insight that what was happening here was something he didn’t want to reveal.”
The kroger did not offer more explanations at the time, causing speculation in business layers. But the mystery is now the focus of an unrelated claim by Kroger by Singer and songwriter Jewel, and one of its business partners at the Kroger annual health festival. The plaintiffs claim that they played a key role in the opening of the festival and seek damage to alleged contractual disputes.
Their lawyers claim that interviewing McMullen for his resignation may be important to his reliability as a court witness and may explain “allegedly corrupt corrupt corporate culture in Krogere.”
McMullen’s legal team fought a request, but earlier this month, Judge Christian Jenkins, Judge of the Hamilton Regional Court, ordered him to submit a written explanation until August 8, including the names of the participants. Whether the public ever sees that this document is still unclear. If Jenkins decides that information is important, it can be stamped. If it is not considered relevant, it will not be entered at all.
Although the CEO’s withdrawal is “a bit invasive”, Chaffee noted that the court could justify it, all the more that the Kroger himself linked his resignation to “business ethics”.
During the litigation, he explained, “If the other side offers a witness, you want to try the reliability of that person … to find out if they behave ethically.”
This relevance test is greatly considering another legal principle: the risk of a witness in bad faith. However, Chaffee noted that “the US is a strong preference, that society has access to the judicial process, not only to be gloomy, but because transparency creates a fairer legal system.”