I am happy to announce that the
Attorney General’s Office recently
settled with 27 gas stations resolving
allegations of Hurricane Ike‐related
price gouging. Even before Hurricane
Ike made landfall in September 2008,
thousands of consumers reported
suspected price gouging. Overall, we
registered more than 4,000 calls that
alleged excessive pricing. During the
height of the gas gouging crisis, our
Consumer Affairs staff worked three
telephone lines, taking messages from
the answering machine and printing
e‐mails. Our staff spent many hours,
including a weekend, answering calls
and taking complaints from concerned citizens. aided by the
Our staff worked with the Attorney General’s Office to analyze
all of the information received. The Tennessee Attorney
General determines when price gouging has taken place. Price
gouging is illegal and is defined as raising unreasonably the
price of a commodity during a declared emergency to take
advantage of consumers. Once signed by the judge, the
settlements will result in $73,447 in potential restitution for
consumers. The settlements amount to the largest
enforcement sweep under the State’s price gouging statutes
in the State’s history. The defendants who settled collectively
advertised and sold regular unleaded gasoline at prices
ranging from $4.69 to $5.98 per gallon.
Under thesettlements, all of the gas stations will make
restitution directly to consumers who submit a valid claim,
and will be paying civil penalties and costs to the State.
State of Tennessee
Department of
Commerce & Insurance
Division of Consumer Affairs
500 James Robertson Parkway
Nashville, Tennessee 37243
Commissioner:
Leslie A. Newman
Director:
Mary Clement
Communications Director:
Christopher Garrett
1-800-342-8385
www.tn.us/consumer
Consumer News & Information
Summer 2009
Phishing Scams!
Director
Mary Clement
In this issue:
Be wary of spam and pop-up messaging that can
be tools used for phis