Attorney General Mayes Sues Pinal County Landlords Over Weeks-Long Power Outage During Summer Heat

PHOENIX – Attorney General Kris Mayes announced today a consumer fraud lawsuit against the owners and operators of Arizuma Country Estates, a residential community in Apache Junction that experienced a five-week power outage during the Summer of 2024. The community is home to residents living in recreational vehicles (RVs) and park model homes. The power outage started after an overloaded electrical panel caught fire on July 22, 2024, and then persisted during one of the hottest periods of the year, exposing the affected residents to dangerous and inadequate living conditions.
 
“This case is an alarming example of a park owners’ indifference to the health and safety of their residents,” said Attorney General Mayes. “At a time when our state routinely faces record breaking summer heat, landlords must be vigilant about their internal electrical systems. And most importantly, landlords cannot ignore their duty to provide alternative electricity especially when their own neglect has caused them to violate their contractual and statutory obligations to provide reliable electricity.”
 
In the lawsuit, the State alleges that the defendants violated the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act (the “ACFA”) by contracting with tenants under false pretenses and omitting material information about the unreliability of the electrical system. The State also alleges that, once the outage began, the defendants misled tenants about the progress of repairs and were responsible for delays of the pending repairs, without notifying the residents of those foreseeable delays. Worse, the individual defendants involved in the operation of the Park, Donald R. Thonger and Lyn M. Thonger, left the country for several weeks while the outage was ongoing and did not give onsite staff sufficient authority to resolve concerns from residents and from the electrician managing the repairs.
 
The State further alleges that defendants committed unfair acts and practices under the ACFA by not providing adequate alternatives to affected residents, leaving residents to fend for themselves and to incur out-of-pockets expenses to escape the heat.
 
This lawsuit comes on the heels of another lawsuit Attorney General Mayes filed last month against the owners and operators of Redwood Mobile Home Park in Tucson. Residents of that park have experienced repeated outages and yet the park has not made the necessary repairs to prevent further outages. More information about that lawsuit can be found here.

“My message to landlords is this: live up to the promises you’ve made to your tenants when renting to them and follow the law,” said Mayes. “If you don’t, I will hold you accountable.”

If you believe you have been the victim of consumer fraud or unfair practices, you can file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office at www.azag.gov/consumer.  If you need a complaint form sent to you, you can contact the Attorney General’s Office in Phoenix at (602) 542-5763, in Tucson at (520) 628-6648, or outside the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas at (800) 352-8431.  
 
A copy of the complaint against Arizuma Country Estates’ owners and operators is available here.