On what grounds?

I read today that Governor Doyle is considering joining other states in a lawsuit against the gas companies for gas gouging after Hurricane Katrina. Is he claiming collusion? There is no gas gouging law in Wisconsin. The only relevant statute that I can think of is a limit to one price increase per day. Perhaps that law was violated and that's another issue. I just don't quite understand how one sues for breaking no law.

That said, it is quite clear that the Governor is correct and gouging did occur and is still occurring today. The historical average markup between a gallon of crude and a gallon of gasoline is $0.80 to $0.90. Of that, approximately $0.50 is made up of taxes with the rest representing profit and refining costs. The day that the hurricane hit, the markup jumped to approximately $1.50 a gallon. Assuming that taxes are still $0.50 then that leaves $1.00 or so for profit and refining. The hurricane only took out between 10 and 15% of our refining capabilities which indicates a total markup of $1.00 should be expected as a result of the hurricane. I'm confident that these are the numbers that Governor Doyle is using because I compiled, and Don Nichols presented the presentation that he has cited as the basis for his concern.