Gas Price-Fixing Suit Is Reinstated
From Times Wire Services
SAN FRANCISCO —
A federal appeals court Friday reinstated a suit by the states of California, Arizona, Oregon and Washington that accuses oil firms of conspiring to fix prices and contrive a gasoline shortage in the 1970s.
The case involves Atlantic Richfield Co., Chevron Corp., Exxon Corp., Mobil Corp., Shell Oil Co., Texaco Inc. and Unocal Corp.
The suit was dismissed in 1986 by U.S. District Judge William Gray of Los Angeles, who said the states had failed to present evidence of a conspiracy in violation of antitrust laws. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that evidence of information exchanges and parallel actions by the companies would allow a jury to find that a conspiracy existed.
