SANTA ANA, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – The owner of a beauty and barber salon in California claims she was solicited by a satellite television provider for services and then sued for using a residential account for a business.
Doneyda Perez filed a complaint as an individual and on behalf of all others similarly situated in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division against DirecTV Group Holdings LLC, Lonstein Law Offices PC, Julie Cohen Lonstein and Does 1-10, alleging that they knowingly violated Unfair Business Practices Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that in 2014, she was enticed by DirecTV to avail of a promotional deal that would provide her business with satellite cable television services. No contract was signed, the suit states. She alleges she relied on the defendant to provide her with the correct type of account, until she received notification from Lonstein Law Offices threatening prosecution for using a residential account for her business unless she paid $5,000.
The plaintiff holds DirecTV Group Holdings LLC, Lonstein Law Offices PC, Julie Cohen Lonstein and Does 1-10 responsible because the defendants allegedly participated in the scheme, reaped revenues, conducted in a pattern of racketeering activity, engaged in deception, fraud, false pretenses, and/or misrepresentations and violated the Unfair Competition Law by targeting and soliciting from small-business owners.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment for actual damages, compensatory damages, disgorgement of profits, attorneys' fees, costs of suit, interest and other relief as the court deems just. She is represented by Kevin Mahoney, Katherine J. Odenbreit and Atoy H. Wilson of Mahoney Law Group APC in Long Beach, California.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division Case number 8:16-cv-01440