Attorneys for a small business in Florida have filed a class-action lawsuit against Chattanooga-based CBL & Associates Properties Inc., alleging the shopping center operator has inflated electricity charges for mall tenants.
According to the suit, CBL promised its small business tenants that their electricity charges would not exceed what CBL was charged by local public utilities for the electricity the tenants actually used.
But, CBL breached its own lease agreements and applicable state law by inflating tenant electric bills up to twice the amount tenants would have been charged had they purchased electricity directly from the utility company, according to law firms Hagens Berman, Buckner + Miles and Yormak Employment & Disability Law.
A CBL spokesman said the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation.