Texaco Delays Asset Seizure

Texaco Inc. today said it won a temporary restraining order that prevents Pennzoil Co. from immediately collecting an $11.1-billion judgment in the high-stakes legal battle between the two oil firms.

Texaco obtained the order from U.S. district court in New York after filing a suit late last week to stop Pennzoil from seizing any of its assets during the appeals process. A Houston jury ruled Nov. 19 that Texaco had wrongly interfered with a merger agreement between Pennzoil and Getty Oil Co. and then acquired Getty itself.