Legal action alleges conspiracy to fix gas prices in California

More than 11 years ago, San Diego attorney Tim Cohelan investigated the trade practices of California's gasoline  refineries. In the process, he learned that so-called competitors weren't competing at all - they were, in fact trading gasoline supplies with each other during times of shortage. According to Cohelan, the big refineries all had supply agreements that allow competitors to trade fuel with each other. Mr. Cohelan concluded that there was a conspiracy between oil companies that violated the Sherman Act.  His legal action asserts that oil companies have worked together to restrict the supply of gasoline and drive up prices ... and he has reams of documents to back up his claims. 

For more than a decade, that evidence has been censored by the courts.

Not anymore. 

On Friday, April 3, the Ninth District Court of Appeals ruled that the Mr. Cohelan's lawsuit, Gilley, et al. v. Atlantic Richfield, could proceed. The decision also allows the secret information about supply trading agreements to be made public. 

For years the oil industry has claimed that if confidential supply trading agreements were publicly exposed in court, it would reveal vital trade secrets. As a result, much of the evidence proving collusion between oil refineries has been kept secret under order by lower courts. Some of these documents were made public by Oregon Senator Ron Wyden in this June 14, 2001 U.S. Senate Investigation, but the bulk of Mr. Cohelan's evidence has been suppressed.