Ashland Oil shareholders filed a class-action suit.

The suit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court against the Belzberg family of Canada. It claims that the Belzbergs’ recently attempted hostile takeover bid was a guise to drive up the price of stock and reap huge profits. It also claims that the Ashland board approved a buy-back agreement that netted the Belzbergs more than $15 million to stay in power and thereby cover up illicit oil dealings abroad. Named as defendants in the suit are the Belzbergs; First City Financial; Drexel Burnham Lambert, which helped negotiate the buy-back, and three Belzberg-controlled corporations: Bel-Cal Holdings, Bel-Alta Holdings and Roxboro Investments. None of the defendants could be reached for comment.