In Re Wholesale Elec. Anttrust Cases

Plaintiffs and appellants Borrego Water District et al. (Borrego), a group of public entities and retail purchasers of electricity, filed this action for damages and other relief against defendants and respondents AES Corporation et al. (AES), a number of companies and their subsidiaries which are generators, sellers, or traders of electricity at wholesale (defendants). In their master complaint filed in 2002 in these coordinated actions, plaintiffs allege violations of California’s antitrust laws (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 16720; hereafter the Cartwright Act), as well as violations of California’s unfair competition law (§ 17200 et seq.; hereafter the UCL). These allegations all arise out of market conditions and events during the California energy crisis of 2000 and onward, relating to claims for damages and injunctive relief for anticompetitive activity and/or unfair competition in the wholesale electricity market.

In response to the filing of this action, and after a delay of several years due to removal to federal court and remand to state court, all defendants brought and renewed a joint demurrer to the master complaint, on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction.…