Michigan court dismisses antitrust lawsuit against oil companies — OilPrice

A district court judge in Grand Rapids, Michigan, dismissed the state authorities’ lawsuit against Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP and the American Petroleum Institute. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel alleged that the companies conspired to restrain the development of electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies in the United States, OilPrice reports.

The court’s arguments

Judge Jane Beckering concluded that antitrust law does not provide a remedy for the main claims in the case. An exception could have been the allegation of overcharging Michigan residents, but the court also dismissed this part of the lawsuit.

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According to Beckering, the connection between the alleged conspiracy and potential overpayments by the state and its residents is too remote to consider that the conspiracy directly caused such overpayments.

Chevron’s position

Chevron’s attorney called the lawsuit baseless and referred to several related court rulings dismissing similar cases. The lawsuit concerned allegations that Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP and the American Petroleum Institute allegedly jointly sought to limit the emergence of electric vehicles and technologies for producing primary energy from renewable sources in the United States.