MDL Formed to Address “Hot Gas” Complaint

Plaintiffs groups from over twenty states (and Guam) recently filed a Consolidated Amended Complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas after being consolidated into a Multi-District Litigation proceeding formed to address the issue of fuel expansion in warm weather (dubbed the “hot gas” lawsuits). The basic idea is that as the temperature of gasoline rises, the volume of a gallon of gasoline expands, causing drivers to get fewer miles out of a tank of gas. For almost a century, federal regulations have measured a gallon of gasoline as 231 cubic inches of fuel at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Thus, a gallon of gasoline at 60°, if heated to 70° (which plaintiffs claim is the average temperature of the fuel sold in their states), would spill over the top of the gallon container. Plaintiffs claim that this spillage represents the energy drivers paid for the “hot gas”, but did not get, and that the oil companies are being unjustly enriched to the tune of billions of dollars a year. Plaintiffs allege causes of action from civil conspiracy, fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of warranty, and unfair or deceptive trade practices.

The litigation is in its very early stages, so the science has not been fully explored and debated by the parties’ experts. However, many self-proclaimed experts have been hotly debating the merits of the case in chat-rooms across the country, bringing up points such as the underground storage of gasoline at retail stations nullifying geographical temperature variations, the de minimus change in actual energy density lost by temperature fluctuations, and the averaging-out of temperature fluctuations over the seasons and years. Plaintiffs, however, are quick to point out that the reverse of their claims is true in cold climates, and that the petroleum industry in Canada has put temperature compensation equipment on most retail pumps in order to alleviate the losses that would be realized from the shrinking “cold gas” sold to consumers.

Possible solutions have been discussed, including temperature-adjusting pumps, which are in use in Canada, that compensate for changes in temperature. Yet, the plaintiffs’ goal at present is to certify an enormous class of gasoline consumers and obtain reparations for drivers’ alleged past losses, reaching into the billions of dollars.