AMERICAS OIL: Michigan Judge Tosses State's Antitrust Suit Against Big Oil

Michigan Judge Tosses State's Antitrust Suit Against Big Oil * A district judge in Grand Rapids dismissed a lawsuit brought against several oil companies that accused them of conspiring to interfere with competition in alternative energy and electric cars. * The lawsuit was filed by Michigan Attorney General Dan Nessel, alleging Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, and the American Petroleum Institute colluded to try to "restrain the emergence of electric vehicles and renewable primary energy technologies in the United States," as quoted. * According to Judge Jane Beckering, however, antitrust legislation does not provide a remedy for such grievances, except one, an allegation that Big Oil overcharged Michigan citizens. Yet she dismissed the allegation of a concerted effort to overcharge Michiganders. * "The distance is too great between the alleged conspiracy and Michigan's and its residents' overcharges to find that the conspiracy proximately caused the overcharges," Judge Beckering said. An attorney for Chevron had described the case as "baseless as demonstrated by multiple related court dismissals," Reuters noted in its report on the news.