Xcel, Other Natural Gas Traders Face Price Manipulation Class

Seven companies and institutions may proceed with a price-fixing suit against Xcel Energy Inc., the Willams Cos., and other energy companies on behalf of a class of Wisconsin industrial and commercial natural gas buyers, a federal court in the state ruled.

Individualized issues such as the amount of damages don’t predominate over common ones, Judge William M. Conley said Tuesday for the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin in a pair of related cases.

Conley also put to rest a summary judgment request by the energy companies that was left over from consolidated multidistrict litigation ...