Willis McGhee Carol McGhee David Rudh Chaweean Rudh v. Arabian American Oil Company, D/B/A Aramco, a Corporation

Willis McGhee and David Rudh and their spouses brought this diversity action against their former employer, the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco), for wrongful termination of their employment contracts and for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud, and conversion. McGhee and Rudh were terminated by Aramco and expelled from Saudi Arabia for renting videotapes to fellow employees from their homes in Aramco’s compounds, activity that Aramco viewed as violating Saudi restrictions on commercial enterprises in the compounds.

On the contract claim, we reverse the district court’s judgment notwithstanding the verdict (judgment nov) for Aramco and order reinstatement of the verdict and entry of judgment thereon. On the tort claims, we affirm the grant of summary judgment for Aramco.

FACTS

Aramco is an oil-production company with extensive operations in the Middle East. Aramco is incorporated in Delaware; its largest operations are in Saudi Arabia. The company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Aramco Services Company, operating out of Houston, Texas, conducts all of Aramco’s recruiting in the United States.

In 1980, Willis McGhee, then residing in Oklahoma, and…