Missouri Public Service Commission v. Oneok, Inc., No. WD 70666 (Mo. App. 12/8/2009)
| Decision Date | 08 December 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. WD 70666.,WD 70666. |
| Parties | MISSOURI PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, Appellant, v. ONEOK, INC., et al., Respondents. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI, The Honorable John R. O'Malley, Judge.
Before Division Two: Joseph M. Ellis, Presiding Judge, Victor C. Howard, Judge and Cindy Martin, Judge.
The Missouri Public Service Commission ("the Commission") appeals the trial court's judgment granting a motion to dismiss the Commission's petition for lack of standing. On appeal, the Commission claims that the trial court erred in dismissing the petition because the Commission had the authority to accept assignments of claims from local distribution companies and to file a petition asserting those claims. The judgment is affirmed.
On May 7, 2008, the Commission filed its petition against the defendants ("Suppliers"),1 a group of companies that marketed and sold natural gas to local distribution companies ("LDCs") in Missouri. The Commission filed its petition after several LDCs assigned their claims against Suppliers to the Commission.2
In the petition, the Commission alleged that the prices Suppliers charged the LDCs for natural gas were based on natural gas price indexes that appeared in various trade publications. Natural gas marketers and sellers, such as Suppliers, provided the trade publications with the price and volume information that was used to create the price indexes. The Commission pled that Suppliers conspired to provide false information to the trade publications with the intent of manipulating price indexes and causing the price of natural gas to rise. Finally, the Commission claimed that, as a result of Suppliers' actions, price indexes for natural gas were artificially inflated and Suppliers thereafter overcharged the LDCs for natural gas. Based on these allegations, the Commission pled violations of Missouri antitrust law, and counts of fraud and unjust enrichment, and sought damages based on the injuries to the LDCs.
Suppliers collectively filed a motion to dismiss the Commission's petition for lack of standing. Suppliers argued that the Commission did not have standing to bring the petition because it does not have statutory authority to accept an assignment of a private damages claim from an LDC and file a lawsuit in which it seeks to recover damages sustained by an LDC. The trial court granted the motion to dismiss. The court stated that, although it was inclined to find that the claims were assignable, there was no statute authorizing the Commission to bring the action. Therefore, the court found that the Commission did not have standing and dismissed the action with prejudice. This appeal by the Commission followed.
We review a trial court's dismissal of a petition for lack of standing de novo. White v. White, 293 S.W.3d 1, 8 (Mo. App. W.D. 2009). We will determine the issue of standing "`as a matter of law on the basis of the petition, along with any other non-contested facts accepted as true by the parties at the time the motion to dismiss was argued, and resolve the issue as a matter of law on the basis of the undisputed facts.'" Id. (quoting State ex rel. Dep't of Soc. Servs., Family Support Div. v. K.L.D., 118 S.W.3d 283, 287 (Mo. App. W.D. 2003)).
In its first point on appeal, the Commission contends that the trial court erred in dismissing the Commission's petition for lack of standing because it had the authority to accept assignments of and assert the LDCs' claims. The Commission claims that this authority is derived from section 386.040, RSMo 2000.
As a creature of statute, the Commission's "powers are limited to those conferred by statute, either expressly, or by clear implication, as necessary to carry out the powers specifically granted." Utilicorp United Inc. v. Platte-Clay Elec. Co-op., Inc., 799 S.W.2d 108, 109 (Mo. App. W.D. 1990). Accordingly, whether the Commission's actions are lawful "depends directly on whether it has statutory power and authority to act." State ex rel. Gulf Transp. Co. v. Pub. Serv. Comm'n of State, 658 S.W.2d 448, 452 (Mo. App. W.D. 1983). Neither convenience, nor expediency, nor necessity is a proper matter to consider in determining whether the Commission's actions are authorized by statute. State ex rel. Mo. Cable Telecomms. Ass'n v. Mo. Pub. Serv. Comm'n, 929 S.W.2d 768, 772 (Mo. App. W.D. 1996).
Section 386.040, which created and established the Commission, provides that the Commission "shall be vested with and possessed of the powers and duties in this chapter specified, and also all powers necessary or proper to enable it to carry out fully and effectually all the purposes of this chapter." The Commission's primary function is the regulation of public utilities, and the Commission identifies its principal purpose as serving and protecting ratepayers. State ex rel. Capital City Water Co. v. Mo. Pub. Serv. Comm'n, 850 S.W.2d 903, 911 (Mo. App. W.D. 1993).
For the purpose of protecting ratepayers, the Commission claims that it was necessary and proper for it to receive assignments of the LDCs' private claims and file suit for damages allegedly inflicted on the LDCs. The Commission argues that its petition enables it to ensure that Missouri's natural gas market is free from price manipulation and other unlawful conduct. Additionally, the Commission claims that, ultimately, ratepayers were injured by Suppliers' unlawful conduct because the LDCs passed the overcharge on to the ratepayers. Therefore, the Commission maintains that it is necessary for it to pursue the claims in its petition for the benefit of Missouri ratepayers; otherwise, the ratepayers will be left without a remedy.
Conversely, Suppliers argue that the Commission has no statutory authority to accept assignments of the LDCs' claims or to assert them in court. Furthermore, Suppliers assert that the Commission's involvement in the petition is neither necessary nor a proper method of protecting Missouri ratepayers.
As for the Commission's assertion that ratepayers will be left without a remedy if the Commission cannot assert the LDCs' claims, it is difficult to discern from the petition and from the Commission's argument on appeal...
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