Chevron Corp. seeks dismissal of consumer class action suit.

SOME conflicts never quite end.

Chevron Corp. has filed a motion to throw out a consolidated class action complaint filed on behalf of California consumers who allegedly were overcharged for reformulated or low-emission gasoline.

The suit alleges that executives of Union Oil Co. of California, the predecessor to Chevron's subsidiary, Unocal Corp., lied to California regulators while helping draft state rules regarding reformulated gasoline during a four-year period beginning in 1990.

In 1995, the nation's top refiners filed suit against Union Oil to invalidate its patents but lost a jury verdict that forced them to pay the company a royalty rate of 5.75 cents per gallon. In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission filed an anti-trust suit against Unocal for allegedly creating a monopoly over reformulated gasoline that could have cost California consumers an additional $500 million annually. Unocal settled the claim and agreed not to enforce any of its patents under the terms of its Aug. 10 merger with San Ramon-based Chevron.

"The FTC action did not seek damages; it was only seeking an injunction of the enforcement of the patent," said Philip Cook, a partner at Jones Day who represents Chevron. "It's our belief that there is zero impact on prices at the pump from Unocal's enforcement of the patents."

A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Christopher Heffelfinger, a partner at Berman DeValerio Pease Tabaceo Burt & Pucillo, did not return calls.