By Lee Hyo-sik
More than 60,000 taxi drivers nationwide have filed a class action lawsuit against SK Energy, GS Caltex and other local refiners, claiming they paid more than they should for auto fuel over the past six years as a result of price fixing.
Linklaw and Jihyang, the law firms representing about 30,000 members of the Korea National Joint Conference of Taxi Association, said Thursday that price collusion on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) among 10 refiners and LPG importers during 2003 to 2008 had caused huge financial loss to taxi drivers.
``Through this class action lawsuit filed to the Seoul Central District Court, we seek to recollect part of the extra money paid by cab drivers for auto fuel and to prevent LPG producers and other large companies from engaging in dubious price-fixing schemes again,’’ the two law firms said in a joint statement.
Another association for self-employed taxi drivers also filed the class action suit against LPG retailers on behalf of its 31,380 members.
Unlike regular vehicles, taxis here run on LPG because of its cheaper price, compared to those of gasoline and diesel.
The law firms argued that LPG producers had kept the price at an artificially-high level to illegally realize greater profits, costing each cab driver at least 1 million won. ``After recruiting more taxi drivers and others negatively affected by LPG price-fixing, we plan to file a second class action suit.’’
In December last year, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), Korea’s anti-trust watchdog, slapped a combined 668.9 billion won fine on six refineries ㅡ SK Energy, SK Gas, GS Caltex, S-Oil, Hyundai Oil Bank, and E1.
FTC said the companies pocketed a massive amount of surplus revenue from 2003 to 2008 through price collusion, claiming the LPG prices of the six companies differed by less than 1 won per kilogram during the six-year period.
It said the six gas companies reaped a combined 21 trillion won in LPG revenue for six years during which they were involved in price fixing, although it was difficult to pinpoint how much of that profit was unlawfully earned.
In protest, the six refiners filed an administrative lawsuit against the FTC, insisting LPG retail prices cannot differ significantly from one refiner to another, given the similar import prices of crude oil, and identical production and distribution costs.