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[marketmaven]

CROOK NEWS: Big Oil Screws Consumers AND 10,000 Retailers !!

Exxon Mobil to Take Charge
Friday October 15, 6:25 PM EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said on Friday it would take a charge of $550 million in the third quarter to cover claims from gas station owners who sued the company for fuel overcharges. The action follows the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Tuesday to review only part of the oil company's appeal in a dispute with about 10,000 service station dealers.

Attorneys who brought the lawsuit said the average recovery for each dealer is expected to be about $130,000, which includes compensation and interest. If all class members file claims, recoveries could total about $1.3 billion, they have said.

The Irving, Texas-based company said the Supreme Court has agreed to review only one portion of its appeal. The court will review claims under $50,000, not those of $50,000 or above.



As a result, Exxon Mobil has decided to set aside the $550 million, an amount which should cover a majority of the costs involved with the case, the company said.

"The other portion of it we have to go ahead and work out (through) the settlement," said Prem Nair, a spokeswoman for Exxon Mobil.

Those claims will be worked out through an administration process, under federal court supervision, she said.

In a brief order earlier this week, the Supreme Court justices agreed to review a ruling by a U.S. appeals court that upheld the verdict by a Miami federal jury that Exxon had overcharged for motor fuel deliveries and then concealed the overcharges for more than 11 years.

The class-action lawsuit involved 10,000 current or former dealers who owned or operated Exxon service stations between March 1983 and August 1994 in 34 states and the District of Columbia.

During that period, Exxon imposed a 3 percent credit card transaction processing fee for dealers. To offset that, it offered a discount for cash on wholesale fuel prices but Exxon never delivered the discounts, the dealers claimed.

(Additional reporting by James Vicini)