BATON ROUGE - Louisiana Attorney Liz Murrill said she obtained a permanent injunction against a Florida-based tree removal company that Murrill said tried to charge over $100,000 each to Louisiana customers following Hurricane Ida.

Murrill said Jeffrey Darren Joiner, owner of Joiner's Tree Service, operated his business in Louisiana without the required license and improperly obtained assignments of benefits from Louisiana consumers.

Joiner is also accused of refusing to provide estimates for the cost of services or copies of contracts; he would tell consumers that he'd bill their insurers directly and promised the cost of services of be "zero" if insurers didn't pay.

Within days of performing tree removal services and returning to Florida, Joiner demanded payment of over $100,000 each from several consumers through their insurance companies, according to Murrill.

In a release Tuesday, the Attorney General said that the 22nd Judicial Court issued a permanent injunction prohibiting Joiner from performing services in Louisiana and from pursuing collecting the payments of remaining invoices, totaling $126,120 from Louisiana consumers and their insurers for tree removal services. Joiner also must pay penalties of $25,000.

The initial lawsuit was filed by the Attorney General's office on Dec. 2, 2021.