Shareholder proposal on Special Meetings at Chevron

Below is the full text of the shareholder proposal on lowering the threshold for Special Meetings, filed on December 11, 2017, to be presented by Newground Social Investment and Investor Voice at the 2018 annual meeting of Chevron ($CVX) in San Ramon, California:

Resolved:  Shareowners request that the Board of Chevron Corporation (“Chevron” or “Company”) take the steps necessary to amend Company bylaws and appropriate governing documents to give holders of 10% of outstanding common stock the power to call a special shareowners meeting.  To the fullest extent permitted by law, such bylaw text in regard to calling a special meeting shall not contain exceptions or excluding conditions that apply only to shareowners but not to management or the Board.

Supporting Statement:

This Proposal grants shareowners the ability to consider important matters which may arise between annual meetings, and augments the Board’s power to itself call a special meeting.  This Proposal earned the support of 32% of shares voted in 2017, representing over $50 billion in shareholder value. 

We believe management has mishandled a variety of issues in ways that significantly increase both risk and costs to shareholders.  The most pressing of these issues is the ongoing legal effort by communities in Ecuador to enforce a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron for oil pollution. 

When Chevron acquired Texaco in 2001, it inherited significant legal, financial, and reputational liabilities that stemmed from pollution of the water and lands of communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon.  For two decades the affected communities brought suit against Texaco (and subsequently Chevron).  The case reached its conclusion in November 2013 when the Ecuadorian National Court (equivalent to the U.S. Supreme Court), confirmed a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron.

Instead of negotiating an expedient, fair, and comprehensive settlement with the affected communities in Ecuador, Chevron pursued a costly legal strategy that lasted for more than two decades.  In the course of these proceedings, Chevron’s management made significant missteps, including moving the case from New York to Ecuador.  In an unprecedented move, Chevron harassed and subpoenaed stockholders who questioned the advisability of the Company’s legal strategy. 

An attempt to collect damages from Chevron via its subsidiary in Canada is pending on appeal.  That effort advanced in October 2017 when the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled against the Company’s attempt to impose roughly $1 million in security costs upon the Ecuadorean plaintiffs.

Chevron has acknowledged the serious risk enforcement of the $9.5 billion judgment represents.  Under oath, Deputy Controller Rex Mitchell testified that such seizure of Company assets: “would cause significant, irreparable damage to Chevron’s business reputation and business relationships.”

However, Chevron has yet to fully report these risks in either public filings or statements to shareholders.  As a result, investors have requested that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigate whether Chevron violated securities laws by misrepresenting or materially omitting information in regard to the multi-billion Ecuadoran judgment.

Shareholders urgently need a reasonable 10% threshold to call special meetings.

Therefore:  Vote FOR this common-sense governance enhancement that would improve shareholder communication and protect shareholder value.