State Attorney General Price Gouging Claims Find New Life

In August we discussed the broad authority that State Attorneys General have in enforcing price gouging laws – many of which remain in effect given the number of states that are still under some state of emergency. We noted the significant expansion in recent AG enforcement, and observed that at least two courts had pushed back on these efforts, dismissing cases brought by the Texas and New York Attorneys General. Just a short month later however, both cases have now been reinstated by appellate courts, again raising the prospects that AGs will continue to push the boundaries in price gouging enforcement, especially while consumers are struggling to deal with high prices due to labor shortages and inflation.