Oil trial records to be released
By Frank Cho
Advertiser Staff Writer
A federal district judge yesterday raised questions about the secrecy that has surrounded the state's antitrust lawsuit against several major oil companies, and asked both sides to come up with a plan to unseal nearly two years' worth of secret court documents.
Judge Samuel King told attorneys for both the state and oil companies to come up with a plan by tomorrow that could make thousands of pages of documents detailing the oil industry's most sensitive financial dealings in Hawai'i available to the public for the first time.
"As I looked over these documents, I don't see why any of this is sealed," King told attorneys for the oil companies.
Experts say the documents — collected as part of the state's case against the oil companies that alleges they conspired to set gasoline prices artificially high — contain information about the companies' costs, pricing practices and profit margins.
A 1999 order by a federal magistrate has kept the documents sealed at the oil companies' request. Making the documents available could make it easier for the state to argue that the oil companies made "excessive" profits in Hawai'i, but whether the documents could help the state prove that a conspiracy existed remains to be seen, experts said.
Chevron's chief lawyer, Robert Mittelstaedt, said he had no objection to unsealing Chevron documents if key financial information could be removed or redacted.
Hawai'i drivers pay the highest gasoline prices in the nation, and in October 1998, the state launched a $2 billion lawsuit against Chevron, Shell Oil, Tosco, Unocal, BHP, Tesoro and Texaco alleging the companies overcharged Hawai'i drivers for gasoline for years. BHP and Tesoro have since settled with the state for $15 million.
All of the oil companies have denied the charges. In July, the remaining companies in the case filed a motion for summary judgment, asking the judge to dismiss the case. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for today and tomorrow.
The case is set to go to trial in Honolulu Feb. 5, but a hearing on the oil companies' request for a change of venue has been scheduled for Jan. 17-18.
