COURT CLEARS EXXON IN CONSPIRACY SUIT

May 18, 1992

A federal court jury in Los Angeles found Exxon Corp. innocent of conspiring to fix oil prices in the 1970s. The case stemmed from a 1975 lawsuit filed by California and the city of Long Beach seeking $750 million to $1 billion in damages from lost revenue. Because it was an antitrust suit, damages would have tripled if Exxon had lost. The suit included Mobil Corp., ARCO, Texaco Inc., Shell Oil Co., Unocal Corp., and Chevron Corp., but by yearend 1991 they had agreed to settlements totaling

A federal court jury in Los Angeles found Exxon Corp. innocent of conspiring to fix oil prices in the 1970s.

The case stemmed from a 1975 lawsuit filed by California and the city of Long Beach seeking $750 million to $1 billion in damages from lost revenue. Because it was an antitrust suit, damages would have tripled if Exxon had lost.

The suit included Mobil Corp., ARCO, Texaco Inc., Shell Oil Co., Unocal Corp., and Chevron Corp., but by yearend 1991 they had agreed to settlements totaling $329 million.

James McCabe, a deputy city attorney with Long Beach, said the Exxon case was weak because it did not attend a series of meetings among oil producers in 1961-62.

Part of a similar suit against Exxon filed by Long Beach and the state in 1986 is still pending.