Blacks Pay, Whites Pump

Chicago, Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Shell Oil Co. and five of its Midwest service station operators were sued by a Chicago policeman who says the company requires blacks to pay before pumping gasoline while letting whites pump and then pay.

The suit was filed today by Daron Hill in U.S. District Court in Chicago against Houston-based Shell, the U.S. arm of the world's largest publicly traded oil company, and five dealers who lease stations from Shell in the Chicago area.

The suit seeks class-action status on behalf of all black customers of Shell, part of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of companies. Hill is seeking unspecified damages and a court-ordered end to discrimination.

``The practice is rooted in the coarsest assumptions of criminality by, and outright bigotry against African-American consumers,'' the lawsuit states.

Shell's company-owned stations in the Chicago area are now run by Equilon Enterprises LLC, a refining and marketing alliance formed earlier this year by Texaco Inc. and Shell with about 9,000 stations in 32 states. Texaco and Shell referred all questions on the suit to their Equilon venture.

Equilon is investigating the accusations, said Dave McKinney, company spokesman.

``Our policies are strict compliance with the law. The allegations are not something we would tolerate if true,'' said David Kinnon, Equilon's general counsel.

The lawsuit says that Shell was put on notice ``as early as March 1998'' about the discrimination claims, but failed to act.

On Videotape
Paul Mollica, one of the attorneys from the law firm of Meites, Frackman, Mulder & Burger representing Hill, said the incidents alleged in the suit occurred in 1997 and 1998. The suit names only Shell because the incidents were believed to have occurred before the Equilon alliance was formed, Mollica said.

According to the suit, attendants at most Shell self-service stations in the Chicago area wait until a motorist drives up to turn on gasoline pumps.

While blacks consistently were required to pay in advance before the pumps were turned on, Shell station attendants turned on the pump for white motorists immediately and let them pay after filling their tanks, the suit says.

The suit lists 16 incidents at Shell stations in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky and Ohio during which it alleges black motorists faced discrimination. Two of the 12 stations named in the suit are operated directly by Shell while the others are run by dealers who contract to use the Shell brand name, the suit says.

A videotape that allegedly shows discrimination during one Chicago-area incident was shown to reporters at a news conference in that city today.

Second Suit
Hill filed a similar suit against Amoco Corp. in October of last year, and said he plans to file another suit against another, unnamed major oil company soon.

Amoco has filed a motion to dismiss the suit against the Chicago-based company, said Howard Miller, an Amoco spokesman.

``It's a baseless complaint,'' Miller said. ``Amoco does not have a policy that discriminates.''

At some locations, during high-crime hours, customers may be required to pre-pay, said Jim Fair, Amoco spokesman, but the rules on pre-paying apply to everyone, not just blacks.

Racism Denied
Equilon's McKinney said the suit has prompted his company to ask Petro Staff Services, which provides workers for Shell stations operated by Equilon, to inform workers that the company's policy is to let all customers pay after they pump gas.

Disciplinary action will be taken if an investigation determines company rules haven't been followed, McKinney said.

Equilon is not responsible for the day-to-day operation of stations owned by independent dealers who contract to buy Shell gasoline, McKinney said. Equilon is contacting dealers and advising them of the allegations and their responsibility to comply with anti-discrimination laws, he said.

Joe Kutyna, a manager at Irving Sheridan Shell, an independent Chicago service station listed as a defendant in the suit, said his station does not base decisions on pre-payment on a customer's race.

``There's no truth to that,'' Kutyna said.

The station decides whether to require customers to pre-pay based on the time, location of a pump, method of payment, and number of attendants on hand, Kutyna said.

Texaco settled a racial discrimination lawsuit in 1996 by paying $176 million to 1,377 current and former black employees and agreeing to change its hiring and promotion practices. The suit caused a national outcry because evidence in the case included tapes of executives what some perceived to be disparaging remarks about holidays celebrated by members of minority groups.

U.S. shares of Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., which owns 60 percent of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, fell 7/8 to 50 5/16 while shares of White Plains, New York-based Texaco fell 7/16 to 60 5/16.