CenterPoint Energy, Inc. v. Superior Court

This writ petition arises out of a number of coordinated antitrust actions by a group of independent plaintiffs, the Cities and Counties of San Francisco and Los Angeles et al. (plaintiffs), in which plaintiffs contend that numerous energy-related defendants engaged in a conspiracy from 1999 to 2002 to manipulate prices in the California retail natural gas market. (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 16700 et seq., the Cartwright Act.) Plaintiffs are asserting that all the defendants falsely reported natural gas trades, manipulated price indices through churning activity, and engaged in wash trades, causing plaintiffs as consumers of energy to incur damages and to be entitled to equitable relief.

Plaintiffs sued, among others, defendant and petitioner CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (CenterPoint), a Texas public utility holding company, on a successor liability theory, based on its formation during 2000 to 2002 out of a former parent, Reliant Energy, Inc. (Former Reliant or Former REI), a Texas utility holding company. In addition, plaintiffs have sued New Reliant, Inc. (New Reliant or New REI; formerly known as Reliant Resources, Inc. (RRI)), also formed out of Former Reliant at the same…