UPDATE 2-Hungarian court rejects OMV's suit against MOL

(Adds court, OMV, MOL comment)

By David Chance

BUDAPEST, May 13 (Reuters) - A potential takeover by Austrian oil firm OMV of Hungarian rival MOL MOLB.BU that could be worth $20 billion received a fresh setback on Tuesday when a court in Hungary threw out a lawsuit it had brought.

OMV (OMVV.VI: Quote, Profile, Research), which owns 20 percent of MOL, had sought to dismantle statutes which limit voting rights for holders of MOL stock.

The court said that the voting cap and rights associated with a voting preference share held by the government had been part of MOL's statutes for years and that the court only had the authority to rule on fresh changes to the statutes.

A rule which limits how many board members may be dismissed at one time was in line with the civil code, the court said, adding that it had no authority to consider whether it was in line with the Companies Act.

It said that if a shareholder suspected the rule was not in accordance with the act, they should have challenged it after the rule was passed, but no challenge was made.

MOL's stock was up 0.11 percent at 23,600 forints ($143) at 1254 GMT, off an early high of 23,760 forints.

It slightly underperformed a 0.75 percent rise on the wider Budapest Stock Exchange index .BUX.