Texaco, Icahn Aim to Settle Suit by June 7

Attorneys for Texaco and takeover specialist Carl C. Icahn told a federal judge Thursday that they hoped to have a lawsuit resolved before the oil giant’s annual meeting next month.

Texaco has sued Icahn--its largest shareholder--over alleged violations of federal securities laws.

Among other things, the lawsuit seeks to void a slate of five candidates, including Icahn, that Icahn has nominated for election to Texaco’s board of directors at the oil giant’s June 7 annual meeting in Tulsa, Okla.

Attorneys for the two sides spent about two hours behind closed doors Thursday working out a schedule for pretrial preparations.

Icahn’s lead lawyer, Raymond Falls, told U.S. District Judge Geard Goettel that the expedited discovery period had been worked out, with a filing date set for May 27.

Goettel set a hearing for June 3, but said the hearing could occur as early as May 31.

After the hearing, the judge is expected to rule on the issue of Icahn’s slate for the 14-seat board of directors.

Icahn, who owns 14.8% of Texaco’s shares, has maintained that the company has been badly run and should be restructured or sold. He has offered to withdraw his slate if the company puts itself up for sale for at least $55 a share. Texaco’s management refuses to do that.

Texaco’s suit, filed Tuesday, charged that Icahn, his associates and companies he controls used “deceptive and manipulative means” to either force the company to pay “greenmail,” force its sale to a third party, or to acquire it in order to break it up and sell the pieces.