The Appellate Division, First Department, has dismissed a class action suit against KeySpan Corp. over a complex swap transaction it entered into with rival power company Astoria Generating Co. and Morgan Stanley, which plaintiffs alleged led to inflated electricity prices. The suit was filed by a customer of Consolidated Edison, which buys power from KeySpan.
The unanimous panel ruled that the plaintiffs could not file the case because the Federal Energy Regulatory Authority had complete authority over electricity rates under the so-called filed rate doctrine. The decision reversed Bronx Supreme Court Justice Mitchell Danziger (See Profile), who had allowed the case to proceed.
