The Mississippi Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the state's price-gouging law. The justices Thursday unanimously overturned a Winston County judge's ruling that the law was unconstitutionally vague. Chancellor J. Max Kilpatrick's ruling came in 2008 as he rejected Attorney General Jim Hood's lawsuit accusing a Mississippi oil company of charging too much for fuel after Hurricane Katrina. Kilpatrick has since retired from the bench. The Supreme Court sent the case back to Winston County to determine if Fair Oil Co. in Louisville violated the law. Fair Oil was one of two companies Hood sued in 2007. The lawsuit, which represents only one side of a legal argument, accused the company of gouging consumers after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. |