At a crucial time when Uber Technologies Inc. is looking to fill a leadership void, repair a foul corporate culture, salvage morale, fend off rivals worldwide, prove it didn’t benefit from stolen trade secrets and deal with a host of other issues, the ride-hailing company is forced to hit the pause button.

“It puts the company in limbo and prevents them from moving forward,” said Arun Sundararajan, a New York University professor and author of The Sharing Economy .

Benchmark claims Kalanick breached his contract and violated his fiduciary responsibilities by withholding information from Uber’s board before it voted last year to allow him to add three directors of his choosing.

Benchmark may have recognized this and asked for a preliminary injunction to remove Kalanick from the board while the matter is decided in Delaware Chancery Court.

Meg Whitman, the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. chief who was on Uber’s short list, took herself out of the running last month, backing away from a messy process .