TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has filed a lawsuit against a Panhandle company and its president, alleging charges of gasoline price fixing. He named Ryan E. Phillips and his company, Fill-Ups Food Stores III Inc., as defendants in the second lawsuit the AG's office has filed against Phillips and his company for similar allegations within the past year.
The complaint, filed late last week in the First Judicial Circuit, cites immoral, oppressive, and unscrupulous actions resulting in substantial injury to Florida consumers.[image-nocss]
Phillips owns or operates approximately 60 retail gasoline outlets throughout Northwest Florida. The lawsuit alleges Phillips demanded another retailerMarian Ingram, owner of the Emerald Express convenience store, DeFuniak Springs, Fla.fix the price of gasoline at her store to match the prices Phillips had set for his 87 Depot station across the street. The store owner reported that she was concerned for her physical safety if she did not comply with Phillips's demands. She said she complied with Phillips' threat, raising her prices by three cents per gallon.
Investigators said they believe Phillips continued to contact her once a week, directing her when to continue raising prices to match those at his store. This conduct allegedly continued for three months until her lease was cancelled in April 2007, after which Phillips took over ownership.
The AG's lawsuit alleges that Phillips' conduct violated the Florida Antitrust Act as well as the Florida Deceptive & Unfair Trade Practices Act and resulted in unnecessarily high gasoline prices paid by Florida residents. Phillips faces a $100,000 penalty for each violation of the Florida Antitrust Act. Phillips' company faces a $1 million penalty for each such violation. Additionally, under the Florida Deceptive & Unfair Trade Practices Act, both Phillips and his company face a $10,000 penalty for every violation.
Phillips called the new lawsuit politically motivated, according to The Northwest Florida Daily News. There are a couple of people in office up there who are upset they couldn't get us on a price gouging case [in 2005], so now they're trying to get us on a price fixing case, Phillips told the newspaper. This is getting crazy.
Governor Charlie Crist was Florida's attorney general in May 2006 when the state first sued Phillips and Crestview, Fla.-based Fill-Ups Food Stores, the report said. That suit also named Robert Tate of Crestview, Tate Enterprises and John Osburn of Navarre as defendants.
The 2006 case alleges the defendants artificially increased gasoline prices by pressuring and intimidating other store owners to increase theirs. They attempted to secure agreements with competitors to fix retail gasoline prices, the suit alleged.
Tate reached a settlement with the AG and paid $140,000 in penalties and reimbursement fees.
Sandi Copes, a spokesperson for McCollum, told the paper that the 2006 action taken against Phillips is still pending. McCollum said the two cases are distinct and will be handled separately.
Click here to read the lawsuit.
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