Gasoline distributors accused of price gouging in Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle counties are going to court.
A class action lawsuit filed in Chittenden Superior Court on Monday by the Washington law office of Bailey Glasser LLP and Burlington Law Practice PLLC claims that gas distributors R.L. Vallee Inc., SB Collins Inc., Champlain Farms/Wesco Inc. and Champlain Inc. conspired to illegally fix gasoline prices in northwestern Vermont.
“These companies have had extraordinary profits that cannot be explained by legitimate market forces. At times, those profits have been twice the national average,” a news release from the law firms said. “During its study, the FTC concluded that gas prices in Greater Burlington in late June 2012 were 10 to 43 cents a gallon higher than reliable computer models would predict.”
Bailey & Glasser’s Boston, Chicago and Washington offices filed the class action lawsuit June 22 in conjunction with Joshua Simonds of Burlington Law Practice, who will serve as counsel to the plaintiff and the putative class.
In this case, the putative class includes “all citizens and businesses of the State of Vermont who purchased unleaded gasoline from June 1, 2005 to the present, either (a) from any gasoline station owned by the Defendants in the Class Area, or (b) from any gasoline station the Defendants supplied at wholesale in the Class Area,” the release said.
John Roddy, an attorney in Bailey & Glasser’s Boston office, said that the four gas companies used their collective purchasing power and Vermont’s environmental regulations to game the system, raising artificial barriers to entry and keeping other gas companies out.
“By eliminating the competition between them, the largest wholesale and retail providers of gasoline in Chittenden, Franklin, and Grand Isle counties were able to realize outsized profits and deprive Vermonters of the benefits of a free and fair market,” Roddy said.
“The manner in which these companies sell gasoline to the citizens of Vermont is illegal, anti-consumer, and wrong,” said Michael Murphy, an attorney in Bailey & Glasser’s Washington office.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has called for a federal investigation into the discrepancy in gas prices in Vermont and the Vermont Legislature held a public hearing on the issue last session.
