The lawsuit asserts that R.L. Vallee Inc., S.B. Collins Inc., Wesco Inc. and Champlain Oil Co. conspired to use their collective market power to realize more than $100 million in illegal profits by keeping gas prices artificially high in Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle counties.
Attorneys for the wholesalers had previously sought to have the case dismissed by Washington County Superior Court Judge Helen Toor. Toor denied those requests, leading to the appeal before the Vermont Supreme Court.
The suit is being brought on behalf of six northwestern Vermont residents. However, attorneys with the West Virginia law firm Bailey Glaser LLP, which specializes in class-action suits, will ask the court to affirm they represent a broader class of northwestern Vermonters affected by higher gas prices.
The ruling, issued Wednesday, means the price-fixing case will proceed to discovery, according to Michael Murphy, of Bailey Glaser LLP, which is representing the residents who are suing the wholesalers.
Murphy and his colleagues have issued a number of subpoenas seeking evidence of price fixing and collusion to clients of the wholesalers and several trade groups of which the companies are members. Attorneys for the companies are seeking to quash those subpoenas, according to a recent Seven Days report.
High costs at the pumps in northwestern Vermont have long drawn scrutiny from elected officials. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has called for a federal investigation into discrepancies in gas prices in the state, and he held a congressional field hearing on the issue in 2012. The Vermont Legislature held a public hearing on the issue during the last session.
During a failed bid for lieutenant governor last year, former state Rep. Dean Corren held a news conference with Attorney General Bill Sorrell highlighting the issue.
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