HP Will Ask Judge to Dismiss Dissident Suit

Hewlett-Packard Co. will ask a judge to dismiss a suit filed by company director Walter Hewlett, who alleges vote-buying in a planned $19.4-billion buyout of Compaq Computer Corp.

Judge William Chandler III of Delaware Chancery Court told lawyers that he will hear the company’s arguments and Walter Hewlett’s counterclaims beginning at 9:30 a.m. Sunday in Wilmington, Del.

Walter Hewlett, the only founding family member left on Palo Alto-based Hewlett-Packard’s board, stepped up his fight with Chief Executive Carly Fiorina in a lawsuit filed last week. He claims Hewlett-Packard coerced investor Deutsche Bank into changing its vote on the Compaq deal, tipping the count in Fiorina’s favor.

The company’s lawyers called the suit a “last-gasp attempt” to block the merger.

Chandler also signed an order Tuesday allowing Walter Hewlett’s lawyers to issue subpoenas for documents related to Deutsche Bank’s voting on the merger and its business relationships with Hewlett-Packard. The documents were to be supplied by April 11, in anticipation of depositions being taken April 16, according to the judge’s order.

HP shares were down 45 cents at $17.45 on the NYSE.