Markovits, Stock & DeMarco, LLC and Freking, Myers & Reul, LLC, the attorneys representing a court-approved class of ratepayer plaintiffs who paid for Duke Energy electric service from January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2008, have received final approval of their class action settlement from Chief Judge Edmund Sargus of the Southern District of Ohio, United States District Court at the April 16, 2016 fairness hearing.
Chief Judge Sargus found that the proposed settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate under the circumstances and overruled two procedurally-deficient and meritless objections. Under the settlement, Duke will pay $80,875,000 to settle the ratepayer plaintiffs’ claims that Duke violated antitrust laws, the federal civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), Ohio’s Patten of Corrupt Activity Act, and Ohio fraud and conspiracy laws when Duke and/or its predecessor CG&E made preferential payments to 22 of its largest ratepayers to the detriment of all other ratepayers in Southwest Ohio.
Bill Markovits
“After over eight years of litigation with Duke, we are excited to receive final approval of the settlement and hope to begin the claims process so that we may start issuing payments to those class members who submitted valid claims,” said Bill Markovits of Markovits, Stock & DeMarco, LLC, the attorney who presented on behalf of the plaintiffs at the fairness hearing.
For more information on the Duke Ratepayer Class Action
Further details about this case may be found at www.dukeclassaction.com.
All media inquiries about the case and settlement may be directed to Bill Markovits of Markovits, Stock & DeMarco, LLC (513-484-9599) or Randy Freking of Freking & Betz, LLC (513-520-9707).
