N.C. sues gas distributor

[BigRog]

N.C. sues gas distributor

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RALEIGH - State Attorney General Roy Cooper has sued an N.C. gas distributor, accusing the company of price fixing, Cooper's office announced today.

Cooper's lawsuit relies on the affidavit of Steven Grover, the co-owner of a Durham gas station who refused to raise his gas prices and was highlighted in an Observer story last week.

Cooper filed suit against fuel distributors McLeod Oil Co., Inc. in Mebane and Home Oil, Inc. of Mebane. The defendants could be fined $5,000 for each violation and would have to give up any profits deemed illegal.

Grover, co-owner of the A&P Minimart off Interstate 85, refused to raise prices two weeks ago when representatives from McLeod showed up and said he had to raise his prices by 40 cents a gallon for gas that was already in the tanks.

"I said, 'I'm not going to have any part of that,'" Grover told an Observer reporter. "That's price gouging."

McLeod officials put padlocks on the pumps and officials said they would send a truck to pump out the remaining gas in Grover's tanks and take it back, he said.

A McLeod spokesman said the company requires all its stations to charge roughly the same price, regardless of when the gas is pumped into a station's tanks, so that none of their clients have an unfair advantage.

[Jerrymac]

So?

This is implying that the stations don't own the fuel in the tanks. And all this time I thought they did.