JOPLIN, Mo. -- Attorney General Jay Nixon has sued several southwest Missouri businesses as the first step in an ongoing investigation into alleged price gouging after the severe ice storms of January 12-14. Nixon said the businesseswhich include hotels, gas stations and hardware storesare located along or near the Interstate 44 corridor from Joplin to St. Robert. The lawsuits involve the sale of hotel rooms, gasoline, kerosene and portable generators.
The AG filed three lawsuits asking the defendants to pay restitution to consumers and penalties to [image-nocss] the state. The suits are against:
The Coast to Coast hardware store station in Monett. Nixon is alleging the station substantially raised the price of both gasoline and generators. Melton's 66 in Buffalo. The lawsuit charges the station raised its gasoline prices by more than 65 cents a gallon after the storms hit. Hometown Equipment Rental & Hardware in Willard, alleging the store almost tripled its profit margin for prepackaged, five-gallon containers of kerosene.In addition to the lawsuits, the Attorney General filed an assurance of voluntary compliance in Laclede County Circuit Court with Champion Oil of Lebanon over price gouging allegations in the sale of gasoline. The owner of the gas station will pay $2,886 in full restitution, $10,113 in court costs and $12,000 in civil penalties. The business would also have to pay another $78,000 in civil penalties if it is found to engage in price gouging in the future.
My office was inundated with complaints from consumers up and down the I-44 corridor in southwest Missouri about the price of these items after the devastating ice storm hit, Nixon said. In a situation such as this, with prices for these necessities showing wild fluctuations, we put in hundreds of hours examining market data for gas prices and hotel room rates before the storm hit and found significant differences in what the businesses charged in the aftermath.
Overall, Nixon's office received 408 complaints regarding the alleged price gouging, and is still actively involved in more than 40 investigations.
Previously, Nixon took action against eight gas stations in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina and against 48 stations after September 11, 2001, over allegations of price gouging. The stations paid almost $69,000 total to the state as a result of Nixon's investigation.
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