March 02, 2010, 10:34 AM EST
By Greg Stohr
March 2 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Supreme Court bolstered the ability of oil companies to change their leases with independent service station owners, blocking a Massachusetts lawsuit against Shell Oil Co. and Motiva Enterprises LLC.
The Supreme Court today unanimously said the suit by a group of station owners cant go forward under the U.S. Petroleum Marketing Practices Act, a 1978 law that gave independent station owners more power in their dealings with oil companies.
The station owners said Shell and Motiva used rent increases to try to end their franchise arrangements so the companies could take over operation of the stations.
The station owners at one point won a $3.3 million jury verdict. A federal appeals court upheld part of the award and both sides appealed to the Supreme Court.
The cases are Macs Shell Service v. Shell Oil Products, 08-240, and Shell Oil Products v. Macs Shell Service, 08-372.
–Editors: Jim Rubin, Laurie Asseo.
To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Stohr in Washington at [email protected].
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jim Kirk at 1-202-654-4315 or [email protected]
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
