Minnesota Statutes Trade Regulations, Consumer Protection (Ch. 324-341) § 325D.67. Petroleum

Subdivision 1. Discrimination between localities. Any person, firm, company, association, or corporation, foreign or domestic, doing business in this state and engaged in the production, manufacture, or distribution of petroleum or any of its products that shall intentionally, or otherwise, for the purpose of destroying the business of a competitor or creating a monopoly in any locality, discriminate between different sections, communities, or cities of this state, by selling such commodity at a lower rate in one section, community, or city than is charged for such commodity by such party in another section, community, or city after making due allowance for the difference, if any, in the test or quality and in the actual cost of transportation from the point of production, if a raw product, or from the point of manufacture, if a manufactured product, shall be deemed guilty of unfair discrimination, which is hereby prohibited and declared to be unlawful.

Subd. 2. Penalty. Any person, firm, company, association, or corporation violating any of the provisions of subdivision 1, and any officer, agent, or receiver of any firm, company, association, or corporation, or any member of the same, or any individual found guilty of violation thereof, shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor, and shall be fined not more than $3,000, or be imprisoned in the county jail for not to exceed one year, or both.

Subd. 3. Contracts void; recovery. All contracts or agreements made in violation of any provisions of subdivisions 1 and 2 shall be void and any money or property paid or transferred for any such commodity under any such agreement shall be paid back within ten days after demand therefor, and on failure to so repay, then the purchasers may recover back, in a civil action, any such money or property, together with reasonable attorneys' fees not less than $25.

Subd. 4. Duty of county attorney. It shall be the duty of the county attorneys in their counties, and the attorney general, to enforce the provisions of subdivisions 1 to 3 by appropriate actions in courts of competent jurisdictions.

Subd. 5. Duty of attorney general. If complaint shall be made that any corporation authorized to do business in this state is guilty of unfair discrimination, within the terms of subdivisions 1 to 8, it shall be the duty of the attorney general to review the complaint and if the facts justify it in the attorney general's judgment, institute proceedings in the courts against such corporation.

Subd. 6. Revocation of permit. If any corporation, foreign or domestic, authorized to do business in this state, is found guilty of unfair discrimination, within the terms of subdivisions 1 to 8, it shall be the duty of the attorney general to request the secretary of state to immediately revoke the permit of such corporation to do business in this state.

Subd. 7. Continuance in business; ouster. If after the revocation of its permit, such corporation or any other corporation (not having a permit and found guilty of having violated any of the provisions of subdivisions 1 to 8) shall continue or attempt to do business in this state, it shall be the duty of the attorney general, by a proper suit in the name of the state of Minnesota, to oust such corporation from all business of every kind and character in the state.

Subd. 8. Remedies cumulative. Nothing in subdivisions 1 to 8 shall be construed as repealing any other act, or part of an act, but the remedies herein provided shall be cumulative to all other remedies by law.