Big oil companies sued in a class action by boat owners
A handful of big oil companies are being sued in a federal class action lawsuit filed by Californian firm, Kabateck Brown Kellner, LLP, representing owners of boats with fiberglass fuel tanks who use ethanol-blended gasoline.
The firms on the list are: Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Chevron Corp. (CVX), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA), ConocoPhillips (COP), Valero Energy Corp. (VLO), Tesoro Corp. (TSO), BP PLC (BP) and other smaller oil outfits.
The charges are over the companies’ use of ethanol as an additive to their fuel. Ethanol erodes fiberglass marine fuel tanks, causes damage to engines, and spreads pollution to marine life in California.
Lead attorney Brian Kabateck says, “The price of gas is bad enough, but selling gasoline that dissolves gas tanks is a new low even for the oil companies. The oil companies know this fuel is corrosive, but they’re keeping consumers in the dark to pump up their profits. The cost to the consumer is thousands of dollars in repairs.”
Oil companies have had a long history in adding other chemicals to boost the octane power of fuel. In 2004, ethanol became a replacement for the banned substance methyl tert-butyl ether because of its destructive effects on the environment.
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