Hurricane Helene damaged homes and left debris piled up throughout western North Carolina. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)
A western North Carolina landscaper was hit with a preliminary injunction for allegedly charging more than $25,000 after Hurricane Helene to remove two trees that collapsed onto a Hendersonville couple’s home — which he subsequently failed to remove.
Attorney General Josh Stein accused the company, run by Lorenzo Lorin Huggins, Sr., of demanding more than three times the market rate for emergency tree removal services after the couple contacted him concerned the two trees brought down by the storm would collapse their roof.
The company’s workers, however, allegedly failed to remove the trees at all, and instead dropped tree limbs through the hole in the couple’s roof and caused one of the trees to fall onto and damage a retaining wall in their yard. The workers left without finishing the job, Stein said, even after charging $25,500 to the couple’s credit card — with no quote or estimate in advance — forcing them to contact another company to complete the removal.