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:SUG SUG - Santi Ultimi Giorni (Italian) SUG - Software User's Guide SUG - Southern Union Company (stock symbol) SUG - START User's Group SUG - Suggest SUG - Sun User's Group SUG - Surigao, Philippines (Airport Code)) by the residents of the Bay Street Area of Tiverton Tiverton (tĭv`ərtən), rural town (1990 pop. 14,312), Newport co., SE R.I., between the Sakonnet River and the Mass. line; settled 1680, included in Massachusetts until 1746, inc. 1747. Tiverton is a summer resort center in a farm area, and there are oyster fisheries. A bridge completed in 1956 connects the town to Portsmouth., 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, infliction of emotional distress, violation of Rhode Island's Hazardous Waste Management Act and private nuisance private nuisance n. the interference with an individual's peaceful enjoyment of one's property, which can be the basis for a lawsuit both for damages caused by the nuisance and an order (injunction) against continuing the noxious (offensive) activity or condition. Examples: fumes from a factory above the legal limit, loud noises well above the norm, directing rain water onto another person's property, operating an auto repair business in a neighborhood, 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 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 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, Mobile Bay Mobile Bay, arm of the Gulf of Mexico, SW Ala., from 8 to 18 mi (12.9–29 km) wide, extending c.35 mi (56 km) from the Gulf to the mouth of the Mobile River. A ship channel connects Mobile Bay with the Gulf. The Intracoastal Waterway passes through the southern part of the bay. Mobile, Ala., is on the northwest shore. Admiral David Farragut, a Civil War naval hero, won the celebrated battle of Mobile Bay on Aug. 5, 1864., South Texas and the Panhandle regions of Texas and Oklahoma to major markets in the Southeast, West, Midwest and Great Lakes region. 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 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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