US: Kansas secures reimbursement in natural gas price fixing suit

A price-fixing lawsuit filed by a Wichita aviation company and other natural gas customers that climbed to the US Supreme Court resulted in recovery by the state of Kansas of more than US$950,000 from companies that manipulated prices in the early 2000s, officials said Tuesday, June 25.

State Attorney General Derek Schmidt contributed to the prevailing argument before the Supreme Court that federal law didn’t preempt authority of states to enforce its antitrust laws against price fixing of natural gas in retail transactions.

In 2015, the Supreme Court decided in Oneok v. Learjet that broad applicability of antitrust law supported a conclusion of no federal preemption. That allowed plaintiffs to continue the suit and prompted a settlement providing recovery of money overpaid because of illegally inflated prices.

Schmidt filed claims to recover excessive payment by the state of Kansas on 5.2 million British thermal units of natural gas. The state’s general fund will receive a reimbursement of US$957,000 to cover overcharges from 2000 to 2002.