US: Oil price-fixing claims get a second chance

A court ruled that an activist group deserves another chance at suing oil group OPEC for alleged price-fixing, say reports.

The D.C. Circuit’s three-judge panel said Friday that conservative activist group Freedom Watch could try again to sue the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries after failing to do so in 2012, when the group hand-delivered a summons to OPEC’s headquarters in Austria.

But OPEC argued that this method was invalid without the consent of OPEC’s secretary general. A federal judge agreed and dismissed the lawsuit.

While the D.C. Circuit agreed and noted that Austrian law would require the involvement of the Austrian Federal Ministry in this case, the judges found that Freedom Watch should be allowed to serve OPEC the summons through its legal representatives in US, White & Case.

”Even if service cannot be effectuated on OPEC through United States counsel without violating Austrian law, the district court could still authorize such service if it would ‘minimize’ offense to Austrian law,” the decision said.

Full content: Courthouse News Service

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