Horne
PHOENIX (Legal Newsline) - Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne announced his request for a court order on Monday against a Tempe-based transmission shop and its principals for alleged violations of a July consent judgment.
Garo Enterprises Inc., a transmission shop run by Robert Brady, does business as Transplant Transmissions and Transplant Plus. The court order would require the company and its principals to show why they should not be held in contempt for alleged violations of a July 8 consumer fraud consent judgment with the state.
"This is the third strike for Transplant Plus," Horne said. "My office takes these kinds of allegations very seriously, and we will vigorously pursue this matter in court."
Transplant Plus has been sued by the state twice, in 2005 and 2011, for alleged consumer fraud violations.
The court order alleges that Transplant Plus violated the judgment by claiming that Transplant Transmissions could elect whether to perform repairs or refunds when the judgment required complete refunds for defective transmissions, failing to register its trade name with the Arizona Secretary of State and claiming the right to repossess the vehicles of customers if a payment did not go through or was reversed.
In addition, the petition alleges that the company failed to respond to customer complaints filed against it with the Better Business Bureau and claimed that there were no refunds on merchandise credit when the judgment required full refunds for defective transmissions. The company also allegedly claimed that all returns were subject to a 20 percent restocking fee when the judgment required full refunds for faulty transmissions, claimed that transmissions were not returnable after 30 days when the judgment required full refunds for transmissions that were defective within 60 days, and claimed to have sole discretion regarding whether or not to provide a refund or exchange when the judgment required full refunds for such defective transmissions.
If Transplant Plus is found in contempt, the company and its principals could be ordered to pay civil penalties of as much as $25,000 per violation.