Fla. AG sues moving and storage company

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Legal Newsline) - Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a lawsuit on Tuesday against a Hollywood-based moving and storage company and its owners for allegedly making misrepresentations to consumers.

Storage & Moving Services Inc., doing business as Ryder Moving and Storage, and its owners, Joshua Socher, Jodi Socher and Jose Pino, were the subject of more than one hundred consumer complaints made to Bondi's office. Ryder Moving and Storage allegedly picked up customer belongings but never delivered them, refused to pay for damage to customer property and collected money for services that were never provided.

Ryder Moving and Storage also allegedly misrepresented to consumers that the company was affiliated with Ryder System Inc., a national moving company, when that was not the case.

"These customers entrusted their clothing, furniture and family heirlooms to this company, only to have them broken and, in many cases, lost," Bondi said. "We will continue to shut down intrastate moving companies within the state of Florida that prey on our consumers."

Bondi's lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction against the defendants to prohibit them from working in or operating a business in the moving services industry in Florida. The lawsuit also seeks the payment of restitution to consumers and civil penalties to the state.