TransPerfect co-founder and CEO Elizabeth Elting is trying to thwart a last-minute bid in the Delaware Court of Chancery to avoid the court-ordered sale of the profitable translation-services company.

On Tuesday, Elting's lawyers filed a motion asking Chancellor Andre G. Bouchard to enforce his 2016 order to sell the company by modified auction and to cancel a scheduled hearing on Shirley Shawe's attempt to force a shareholder meeting to resolve the intractable corporate deadlock that has plagued the firm for years.

The move by Shirley Shawe, mother of TransPerfect's other founder and CEO Philip Shawe, violated the sale order and warranted sanctions, Elting's attorneys said in court filings.