Two more lawsuits have been filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, accusing businesses with price gouging during Hurricane Harvey, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"Price gouging by unscrupulous profiteers is something that no Texas should have been confronted with during a declared disaster like Hurricane Harvey," Paxton said. "Price gouging is illegal, unconscionable, and completely outside the spirit of cooperation we saw just about everywhere else in our state before, during, and after the hurricane."
Named as defendants in the latest actions are Big Willy's, a chain of gas stations in the D/FW area, and Tejano Mart in Laredo. The lawsuit claims Tejano Mart jacked up the price of gas to $9.99 per gallon.
Thanks to laws passed following Hurricane Ike in 2008, Texas has some of the stiffest price gouging laws in the country.
If an emergency has been declared, companies that are determined to have overcharged for emergency items ranging from gasoline to water to hotel accommodations can be fined up to $20,000 for every incident of a customer getting ripped off. That means if the defendants sold overprices gas to one thousand customers, they could face fines of up to $2 million.
If the people ripped off were over 65 years old, the potential fine jumps to $250,000 per incident.
Paxton says his investigation remains open, and citizens who have evidence of profiteering during the hurricane should contact his office.
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