On March 27, 2007, the United States District Court for the Central District of California certified a class for all purchasers of summertime CARB compliant reformulated gasoline from January 1995 through August 11, 2005 in the State of California.   Finkelstein Thompson LLP has been appointed Co-Lead Counsel to the Class.  Judge Christina A. Snyder found that Plaintiffs satisfied their burden of asserting colorable methodologies to show both an antitrust impact and calculate damages on a classwide basis.

The case alleges that defendant Union Oil Co. of California and Unocal Corporation ("Unocal") obtained market power in the reformulated gas market by manipulating the California Air Resources Board ("CARB").  Plaintiffs alleged that Defendants made misrepresentations and misstatements to CARB during various rulemaking procedures.  Relying on Unocal's misrepresentations, CARB adopted regulatory standards that ultimately benefited Unocal.  Specifically, CARB adopted rules that virtually ensured that reformulated gasoline manufacturers would be forced to license or infringe upon Unocal's patents.  Plaintiffs' allege that but for Unocal's conduct, CARB would not have adopted standards in such a manner that would have benefited Unocal.  The suit alleges that Unocal's conduct resulted in additional costs that were passed onto consumers in the form of higher prices for summertime CARB compliant reformulated gasoline.