AUSTIN—Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed a civil lawsuit Thursday against a gas station company that allegedly gave customers less fuel than they thought they were buying.

The court action against Petroleum Wholesale, L.P., follows an investigation announced last week by the Texas Department of Agriculture. The agency said that 985 pumps operated by the company at its Sunmart stores were rigged to favor the company.

Fifteen Sunmart stations had all of their pumps calibrated in the company’s favor, investigators said.

The company issued a statement disagreeing with the allegations in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit in Harris County claims that the company, based in The Woodlands, violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Abbott said there may be 1,000 separate violations and that the company could face up to $20,000 in civil penalties per violation—or $2 million.

Abbott called it “a potential financial death penalty.”

“Texans are paying record gas prices, and when they purchase a gallon of gas, they expect to receive a full gallon,” Abbott said.

Petroleum Wholesale denied it intentionally cheated consumers and said it is concerned that some of the agriculture department’s testing methods may not comply with laws designed to ensure test accuracy.

“Throughout this investigation we have provided documents to the Department of Agriculture, have responded to every request for information, and will continue to offer our assistance in the process. We anticipate a satisfactory outcome to this matter,” the company stated.

Petroleum Wholesale also operates Sunmarts in other states. Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples said he has been contacted by another state seeking information about the Texas investigation, but he declined to say which one.

Staples said in some cases there were attempts to deceive inspectors who descended on the stations in a weekend “blitz” investigation. Gas nozzles that were really working were labeled “out of order” before inspectors arrived, Staples said.

Staples said last week that the investigation found 990 pumps were rigged to favor Petroleum Wholesale by as much as one-tenth of a gallon for every five gallons sold.

Staples said Sunmart officials are cooperating with investigators at this point.

Abbott suggested it would be best for the company to settle the case before it reaches a jury trial.

“They would be very smart to come forward very quickly and try to resolve it as quickly as possible,” he said.

The court case is the second legal action against Petroleum Wholesale in less than two months by Abbott’s office. On June 19, his office charged the company with violations of the Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act for improperly dumping hundreds of customer records that contained personal financial information.

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On the Net:

Texas Department of Agriculture at www.tda.state.tx.us

Texas Attorney General’s Office at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov