In 1973, The States of Florida and Connecticut sued several named petroleum companies in each individual state’s federal court. The States alleged that the companies conspired to raise or stabilize prices for refined oil products and they continually engaged in the mutual exchange of pricing and price-related information. Further, the States alleged that the Defendants conspired to create an artificial scarcity of crude and refined oil and that the oil companies conspired not to compete in bidding on plaintiffs annual bulk sale petroleum supply contracts. California, Arizona, Washington and Oregon also filed suit. All of the actions were consolidated for pre-trial purposes in the Central District of California. In 1980, Connecticut settled its case for approximately $200,000. In 1984, Florida settled for $3,970,000, plus interest and real property for a total of approximately $7.2 million. California, Arizona, Washington and Oregon continued to litigate, pursuing the matter for more than a decade. In 1992, California, Oregon, Arizona and Washington agreed to a settlement sum of $149.9 million. The funds were distributed cy pres for programs to conserve energy, improve traffic flow, roads and highways and improve public safety. California used its portion of the funds for earthquake retro-fitting.