Attorney General Andy Beshear announced Wednesday a 12-year old lawsuit against Marathon Petroleum Company and Speedway LLC over alleged gasoline price gouging has been settled for $22.5 million.
According to Beshear, the settlement resolves claims that Marathon Petroleum Company, based in Ohio, and Speedway violated Kentucky’s Consumer Protection Act by engaging in price gouging in the wholesale and retail sale of gasoline in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and that Marathon engaged in wholesale price gouging following a flood event in 2011.
Beshear indicates half of the agreed payment is due within 20 days of the settlement becoming effective with the remainder paid annually in two equal installments. Beshear, with the agreement of Marathon and Speedway, will recommend that the General Assembly appropriate the proceeds of the settlement, after fees and costs, for improving rural roads, navigable waterways, and/or emergency management to mitigate the impact of weather events.
The lawsuit was filed in May 2007 by the Office of the Attorney General, under then-Attorney General Greg Stumbo. Then, Attorney General Jack Conway’s office amended the complaint in 2011.
In the settlement, Beshear says Marathon and Speedway made no admission of wrongdoing or liability. A trial in the case was set to begin in Franklin Circuit Court on August 19.
A separate lawsuit, filed in federal court in 2015, that alleges Marathon violated antitrust laws is still pending.