these companies put on us. People get cheated everyday in several issues.”
A solution for consumers already exists. In Canada, mainly because temperatures are commonly lower than 60 degrees, retailers benefit from using equipment that adjusts the volume of gasoline being pumped into consumers’ tanks. However, the technology has not been practiced in the United States to date.
Dugan added that the decision by District Court Judge Kathryn H. Vratil to let the proposed lawsuit go forward is just the first big hurdle facing consumers.
“That was a big step in a case like this, and God knows these cases can take a long time,” she said. “[Retailers] change their pumps over a six and eight year cycle, so all of the proposals are made knowing this process is going to take several years.”
In an attempt to fend of the lawsuit, ExxonMobil stations in California and Arizona have put stickers on its pumps informing consumers about fuel volume being “affected by temperature.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 3, 2008. Read the original PDF.