Polsinelli Shughart senior partner Jennifer Gille Bacon said the claims are worth hundreds of millions or even billions if tried. A former Missouri Bar Association president, Bacon and her co-counsel at Milwaukee’s Kohner, Mann & Kailas litigated the appeal against Sidley Austin; Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman; Fulbright & Jaworski; Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan; Dickstein Shapiro; Hogan Lovells; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; Locke Lord; GableGotwals; and Baker Botts.
The gas companies argued that state law claims are pre-empted by the federal Natural Gas Act and the Federal Energy Regulatory Corp.’s Code of Conduct. But Judge Carlos Bea said no, citing a 2007 Ninth Circuit decision, E&J Gallo Winery v. EnCana, plus two D.C. Circuit opinions. "Our reasoning in Gallo applies with equal force to the question presented by this case," Bea wrote. "Federal pre-emption doctrines do not preclude state law claims arising out of transactions outside of FERC’s jurisdiction."
