DeWine
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced a lawsuit on Wednesday against a driving school in Ashtabula for allegedly failing to provide driving lessons to consumers who paid for its services upfront.
Ashtabula Driving School provided in-classroom and on the road training for student drivers, accepting consumer payments throughout 2010 and 2011. In July, DeWine's office began receiving complaints from consumers who said that the school closed without providing services. DeWine has received 25 consumer complaints against the company. In the complaints, consumers said that the school shut down without providing promised services and refused to provide consumers with refunds.
"This company accepted advance payment for driving instructions but shut down before providing the lessons," DeWine said. "In some cases, consumers said they had completed their entire driver's education program but couldn't obtain the certificate they needed because the business shut down and wouldn't respond to their calls."
DeWine's lawsuit alleges that the company violated Ohio's Consumer Sales Practices Act by refusing to refund amounts to consumers, failing to deliver services and failing to maintain a statutory agent with the Ohio Secretary of State.
The lawsuit seeks consumer restitution, civil penalties and injunctive relief.