New Trial Requested for Menger Divorce Case After Van Orman’s No-Show

Mary Van Orman, the attorney for the ousted president of Petro Valve, Marek Menger, has requested a new trial for the divorce case of the Mengers.

While Judge Lisa Millard has already granted the Mengers’ divorce in February (after an uncalled-for amount of time and expense), Van Orman claims she was unable to appear in person for the final judgement in Judge Millard’s court in Houston on February 27th because she was in trial in Conroe in Judge Gilbert’s court. At face value, this seems reasonable enough. However, after looking into the details it is clear that Mary Van Orman knew about the judgement date since October 2017 – five months in advance – and schedules could have been adjusted. Not knowing anything about the Harris County case, Judge Gilbert graciously gave Van Orman a signed protective order at 10:30 am on February 27th from Montgomery County, which was that same date as the Menger judgment. Van Orman asked Judge Millard by phone during the hearing to postpone the judgement but Judge Millard would not allow Van Orman’s stalling techniques. After several attempts by Judge Lisa Millard to contact Mary Van Orman she was finally able to track Ms. Van Orman down by cell phone to attend the Menger hearing by speaker phone since she could not be there in person.

This is a matter of record with the Harris County District Clerk. For some, it is business as usual, but for others it begs the question: Should a new trial be given to a lawyer who is playing two very respected Judges in two different counties against each other?

Emmy award winning Wayne Dolcefino of Dolcefino Consulting follows and investigates high stakes, big money divorce cases and has been closely following the Menger divorce case as he. For more information, follow the Dolcefino blog.