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New Jersey Sues Oil Companies

Three oil companies and several gas stations are being sued by the state of New Jersey, facing allegations of price gouging during Hurricane Katrina. The lawsuits accuse Hess, Motiva Shell, and Sunoco - along with the independent stations selling their gas - with artificially inflating gas prices and for increasing prices more than the once-a-day legal limit.

The civil action is the first in the country to respond to recent rising gasoline prices. The defendants are accused of violating New Jersey`s motor fuels and consumer fraud acts. Consumer complaints sparked the investigation, New Jersey gas prices hit their highest-ever levels on Labor Day at an average of $3.16 per gallon of regular unleaded.

State Attorney General Peter C. Harvey says, ",The goal here is to protect consumers` hard-earned money from artificial inflation and economic exploitation. Some of these dealers were using Katrina to artificially inflate the price, because there were sufficient supplies that this kind of pricing did not have to occur.",