To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: Price gouging is back in the news, this time as Americans rush to buy gasoline after a major East Coast pipeline is temporarily shut down. Our Antitrust Team provides lessons for how companies can handle price gouging, from avoiding becoming victims of vendors to their own compliance with individual state laws. An overview of price-gouging laws How the current “crisis” is affecting businesses Lessons to be learned The recent ransomware attack on a major East Coast pipeline on May 7 has triggered fuel shortages and increased retail gasoline prices in many areas of the country. As often happens in such situations, these events have been accompanied by claims of retail price gouging. In response, the governors of Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina have declared states of emergency and enacted executive orders triggering statewide prohibitions on price gouging for gasoline. This begs the questions of whether spiking gasoline prices are necessarily price gouging and what state governments can do in response. It also serves as a reminder for how companies should handle pricing issues during emergencies.