Natural-Gas Suppliers Must Face Suit, U.S. High Court Rules

Source: Bloomberg

The decision upholds a lower court’s conclusion.

Apr 21, 2015 10:08 AM EDT

The U.S. Supreme Court said natural-gas suppliers, including Duke Energy Corp. and CMS Energy Corp., must defend against lawsuits claiming they manipulated prices during the 2000-02 California energy crisis.

The 7-2 ruling keeps alive suits that seek billions of dollars. The majority said federal energy law leaves room for state-law antitrust claims filed by natural-gas buyers.

The ruling may have limited applicability beyond the case that was before the justices. Congress changed the law in 2005 to give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission a greater role in policing the manipulation of natural-gas prices at the retail level.

Natural-gas customers, including Learjet Inc. and Sinclair Oil Corp., say the suppliers reported false data to trade publications whose price indexes were the basis for many retail sales contracts. The customers also claim the companies made sales directly offsetting each other to create a false price for the indexes.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-04-21/natural-gas-suppliers-must-face-suit-u-s-supreme-court-rules