Kansans deserve day in court to try to recoup some of the $50M spike in natural gas prices

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach was handed a loss in federal court seeking to recover money for alleged price gouging of natural gas during the February 2021 winter storm.

The Topeka Capital-Journal’s Jason Alatidd reports Kobach lost on a technicality. He had recently fired the state's outside counsel, Morgan & Morgan, which had been hired to provide additional expertise and resources.

The firm’s founder says they would have won had they been retained. Kobach says otherwise.

Regardless, the real losers are the Kansas residents and businesses that paid sky-high prices for natural gas during a cold freeze.

The back and forth on why Morgan & Morgan’s services weren't retained suggests they were politically biased — something their founder disputes. Alatidd reports Morgan & Morgan’s services were initially retained by the previous attorney general Derek Schmidt for this case because of their expertise in the field.

There’s no point in playing the blame game at this juncture. From where we stand, we’d like to see the Attorney General’s Office pick itself up by its bootstraps and get to work for Kansans. They’ve been strapped for qualified attorneys to staff their office for some time now and Kansans deserve better.

Lawsuits like this can’t be resolved if we’re bickering with hired guns. It also shows future partners we aren’t easy clients. That doesn’t make the state a desirable partner.

Instead of fighting about why we lost the case, maybe we could use that energy to try again and do it right.

Kobach could potentially refile the suit. It remains to be seen if he will. We hope his office will. It seems like this should have been an easy win for the state.

The lawsuit alleged that Macquarie Energy's actions caused more than $50 million in excess costs for Kansas consumers. Kobach previously said he was "very confident we'll be able to get money back for Kansans."

The lawsuit was dismissed on a technicality and didn't address whether Macquarie actually manipulated gas prices to its own benefit and at the expense of Kansas residents.

"And plaintiff could have avoided this outcome by either filing in federal court initially or properly pleading state court jurisdiction at the outset," wrote District Judge Daniel Crabtree in his 19-page decision. "So, the court's hands are tied."

There’s no point in playing coulda/woulda/shoulda. We hope the AG just refocuses and fights for Kansans as spelled out by the Kansas Constitution.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansans deserve day in court to recoup $50M spike in natural gas costs