Bipin Patel, owner of Lone Star Motel in Waco, allegedly charged exorbitant rates for rooms from the evacuees to pocket excessive profits.
NEW YORK: An Indian American motel owner in Texas state has been charged with exploiting evacuees fleeing Hurricane Rita last year when they sought refuge at his motel.
Texas attorney general Greg Abbot filed a suit against Bipin Patel, owner of Lone Star Motel in Waco, McLennan County, for charging exorbitant rates for rooms from the evacuees to pocket excessive profits, reports said.
An exorbitant rate is defined in the lawsuit as that which is in excess of 10 per cent of the average price for goods and services.
The motel, located on LaSalle Avenue, allegedly charged Hurricane Rita evacuees $60 and $141.25, respectively, for rooms that typically lease for $30 and $55, according to a press release issued by the attorney general's office.
Many consumers who were seeking shelter at that time were over the age of 65, which triggers a provision in the law authorising the attorney general to request a penalty of up to $250,000, plus civil penalties of up to $20,000 per violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA), the release stated.
The Texas DTPA prohibits any business from taking advantage of a declared disaster by selling or leasing fuel, food, lodging, medicine or other necessity at an exorbitant rate.
According to a report in the Waco Tribune Herald newspaper, the suit was filed recently at the state district court in Waco.
The total number of violations that the attorney general's office is alleging against Lone Star Motel is part of an ongoing investigations, the report quoted Tom Kelley, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, as saying.
When contacted by the Tribune Herald, the motel declined to make any comment.
Over two million people from the counties of Houston, Beaumont and Port Arthut headed north in September last year following an appeal from Texas Governor Rick Perry as Hurricane Rita approached the area.
The hurricane, which hit the Texas-Louisiana border on Sep 24 last year, caused damages worth $10 billion on the US Gulf Coast.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}