Federal Court Dismisses Claims by Tiverton Bay Street Residents.HOUSTON -- On November 3, 2006, Chief Judge Ernest C. Torres of the Federal District Court in Providence, R.I., dismissed four of the claims brought against Southern Union Company (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :SUG n. 1. A kind of worm or larva. ) by the residents of the Bay Street Area of Tiverton, R. I. The residents claim that Fall River Gas Company, which was acquired by Southern Union in 2000, was responsible for contamination of their properties in the 1930s and 1940s, decades before their properties were developed. The Federal District Court dismissed plaintiff's claims for gross negligence An indifference to, and a blatant violation of, a legal duty with respect to the rights of others. Gross negligence is a conscious and voluntary disregard of the need to use reasonable care, which is likely to cause foreseeable grave injury or harm to persons, property, or , infliction in·flic·tion n. 1. The act or process of imposing or meting out something unpleasant. 2. Something, such as punishment, that is inflicted. Noun 1. of emotional distress, violation of Rhode Island's Hazardous Waste Management Act and private nuisance, finding them defective as a matter of law. The court sustained the remaining three claims at this initial stage of the proceeding. Eric D. Herschmann, Southern Union's senior executive vice president, commented, "The company is gratified grat·i·fy tr.v. grat·i·fied, grat·i·fy·ing, grat·i·fies 1. To please or satisfy: His achievement gratified his father. See Synonyms at please. 2. that the court has dismissed the four claims. The company believes that the remaining claims also lack merit, and it will continue its vigorous defense of those claims." About Southern Union Company Southern Union Company, headquartered in Houston, is one of the nation's leading diversified natural gas companies, engaged primarily in the transportation, storage, gathering, processing and distribution of natural gas. The company owns and operates the nation's second largest natural gas pipeline system with more than 22,000 miles of gathering and transportation pipelines and North America's largest liquefied natural gas liquefied natural gas: see under natural gas. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) A product of natural gas which consists primarily of methane. Its properties are those of liquid methane, slightly modified by minor constituents. import terminal. Through Panhandle Energy, Southern Union's interstate pipeline interests operate approximately 18,000 miles of interstate pipelines that transport natural gas from the San Juan, Anadarko and Permian Basins, the Rockies, the Gulf of Mexico Noun 1. Gulf of Mexico - an arm of the Atlantic to the south of the United States and to the east of Mexico Golfo de Mexico Atlantic, Atlantic Ocean - the 2nd largest ocean; separates North and South America on the west from Europe and Africa on the east , Mobile Bay, South Texas and the Panhandle regions of Texas and Oklahoma to major markets in the Southeast, West, Midwest and Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region can refer to:
Southern Union Gas Services, with approximately 4,800 miles of pipelines, is engaged in the gathering, transmission, treating, processing and redelivery of natural gas and natural gas liquids in Texas and New Mexico. Through its local distribution companies, Missouri Gas Energy and New England Gas Company, Southern Union also serves more than half a million natural gas end-user customers in Missouri and Massachusetts. For further information, visit www.sug.com. Forward-Looking Information This news release includes forward-looking statements. Although Southern Union believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that such assumptions will materialize. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements herein are enumerated This term is often used in law as equivalent to mentioned specifically, designated, or expressly named or granted; as in speaking of enumerated governmental powers, items of property, or articles in a tariff schedule. in Southern Union's Forms 10-K and 10-Q as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements made herein or any other forward-looking statements made by the company, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. |
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