Florida has settled just 1 storm-related price-gouging case

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida got thousands of complaints about price-gouging when Hurricane Irma hit, but so far Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office has settled just one case.

The Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee bureau reported Tuesday Bondi’s office was inundated with 7,500 complaints in the weeks after the deadly storm struck the state in September.

Her office has settled one case for $25,000. A hotel near Miami International Airport admitted hiking room rates by as much as 138 percent.

Bondi has 10 more active price-gouging cases, including a Mexican restaurant in Tampa, hotels in Tarpon Springs and Coconut Grove, three South Florida gas stations and two propane distributors.

Bondi called price-gouging cases “extremely time-intensive,” and “we’ve just gotten started.”

But a consumer group questioned why more cases had not been resolved.

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Information from: The Miami Herald, http://www.herald.com

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