BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley on Friday announced JP Morgan Chase & Co and Capital One, have agreed to employ a dispute resolution process for the victims of an unfair and deceptive sales practice by local dental firms.
Last year, the attorney general's office filed a lawsuit against 15 individuals and corporations who were involved in the management and operation of Fall River-based Coast Dental, Spectrum Dental and Weymouth-based Sierra Dental.
According to the lawsuit, Gary Anusavice, a dentist whose license to practice was revoked by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Dentistry in 2005, and 14 other individuals and entities violated the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act by allegedly luring customers using deceptive marketing.
The defendants also defrauded consumers by providing incomplete treatment, signed them up for financing to pay for that treatment, and once patient complaints escalated, abandoned the practices only to start the scheme anew elsewhere or under a different practice name, according to Coakley.
On October 7, 2008, the state obtained a preliminary injunction against the defendants, which enjoins them from maintaining, operating, or having an ownership interest in any dental clinic, dental practice or other entity organized to provide or manage dental services in the state.