Newark, NJ – Some 88 ExxonMobile gas station owners have filed a complaint in federal court in Newark claiming that the oil company is purposely undermining the ability of store owners to earn profit while charging gas stations different fees for the same amount of fuel at nearby locations.
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The owners claim the policies — in addition to saddling customers with higher pump prices — undermine a legislative victory they earned last summer giving them the right to buy their stations before they are sold to third-party distributors.
“We’re bringing a lawsuit against the largest oil company in the world (to) make the public aware that we’re fighting for the same cause as you are,” said Roger Verma, a 15-year Exxon franchise owner who runs three stations in Somerset, Montclair and Newark. “We’re not fighting just to buy our properties.”
The 12-count complaint alleges ExxonMobil manipulates the timing of the delivery of fuel to ensure the highest prices, continues to raise store rents despite a lackluster real estate market and charges gas stations different fuel prices in an arbitrary and discriminatory manner.
At one point Exxon divided New Jersey into two pricing zones, north and south. Today New Jersey is carved into approximately 100 zones where some have only a single gas station, according to the suit.
I don’t understand – if exxon ownes the property then what kind of owenership to the people who run the gas station have?