Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP Reminds Gas Station Owners of an Upcoming Court Deadline to Join Action as a Named Plaintiff

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, the country’s leading plaintiffs’
class action firm, reminds gas station owners who purchased gasoline
from the eight largest refiners in California that the November 9, 2018
deadline is approaching to be added as a named plaintiff in a pending
antitrust action against the major gas refiners for allegedly conspiring
to increase gasoline prices in 2012 and 2015.

The refiners are BP West Coast Products LLC, Chevron U.S.A. LLC, Tesoro
Refining & Marketing Company LLC, Equilon Enterprises LLC, ExxonMobil
Refining & Supply Co., Exxon Mobil Corporation, Valero Marketing and
Supply Company, Phillips 66, and Alon U.S.A. Energy, Inc. The case is
currently pending in the Southern District of California and is titled Persian
Gulf Inc. v. BP West Coast Products LLC, et al., No.
3:15-cv-01749-L-BGS.

The Court has set November 9, 2018, as the deadline to amend the
complaint. If you are a gas station owner who directly purchased
gasoline from any of the defendants, you are likely a class member. If
you are such a purchaser, who bought directly from these refiners, and
wish to discuss this action, please contact Carmen
A. Medici at cmedici@rgrdlaw.com
or (619) 231-1058.

The Complaint
alleges that for years Californians have seen spikes in gasoline prices,
seemingly untethered to normal market forces of supply and demand.
Various reasons have been posited for these spikes, including the unique
nature of California’s gas market. However, plaintiffs allege a number
of spikes over the years were not the result of California’s market
structure (though perhaps enabled by it), but instead were the result of
anticompetitive conduct on the part of the major gas refineries
operating in the state.

Plaintiffs detail a series of price spikes that hit the California
market in 2012 and 2015 that cost California gasoline purchasers
billions of dollars. The Complaint provides significant detail regarding
defendants’ conduct. A copy of the Complaint is available at rgrdlaw.com.

On June 19, 2018, the Court denied defendants’ motion to dismiss. The
Court ruled that plaintiffs had alleged “several instances of tightly
synchronized multiple refinery shutdowns, simultaneous exports during a
short period of time, an orchestrated run on the market, joint public
exaggerations regarding supply disruptions, and other coordinated
actions such as unnecessary refinery shutdowns, failure to repair a
damaged refinery, idling a Jones Act tanker, and coordinated exports all
occurring simultaneously during a time of rising prices.” Order Denying
Motion to Dismiss at 15.

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world’s leading complex
litigation firms representing plaintiffs in securities fraud, antitrust,
corporate mergers and acquisitions, consumer and insurance fraud,
multi-district litigation, and whistleblower protection cases. With 200
lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller has obtained many of the largest
securities, antitrust, and consumer class action recoveries in history,
recovering tens of billions of dollars for victims of fraud and
corporate wrongdoing. Robbins Geller attorneys are consistently
recognized by courts, professional organizations and the media as
leading lawyers in their fields of practice. Please visit rgrdlaw.com
for more information.

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