Edison Faces Trial Over Refinery Outage

Edison International, which owns California’s second-largest utility, must face a trial over claims that a 1996 power disruption caused more than $20 million in damage at an Exxon Mobil Corp. refinery.

A California appeals court reinstated Exxon Mobil’s breach-of-contract claim, which was thrown out by a trial judge after a jury failed to reach a verdict. Rosemead-based Edison persuaded the court to uphold the dismissal of Exxon Mobil’s fraud and product-liability claims.

The dispute concerns whether Southern California Edison is liable for damage caused by outages that originate elsewhere on the Western U.S. power grid. In this case, circuit overloads in Oregon reduced power to the refinery in Torrance that depends on a reliable power supply.

Edison shares fell 19 cents to $12.59 on the NYSE.