CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey recently mailed checks totaling $22,682 to groups and individuals, refunding their payments for canceled services from a charter bus company.
The checks follow the Attorney General securing an agreed upon order requiring Cav’s Coach Company, LLC and its owner, Christopher Todd Cavender, to refund money paid for canceled field trips at Kermit Area School and Crum Middle School, as well as a canceled family vacation.
“I am pleased to return hard-earned dollars to the groups and individuals who did not get what they paid for,” Morrisey said in a press release. “In just a short time, our staff was able to secure more than $22,000 in refunds for those affected. This litigation emphasizes how seriously we take consumer protection and holding companies accountable for delivering promises made.”
The mailings return $10,382 to Kermit Area School, $7,500 to Crum Middle School and $4,800 split between two private citizens. Each amount fully satisfied balances not refunded by the company prior to the Attorney General’s lawsuit.
The July court order that led Cav’s Coach and its owner to refund the money also required the defendants to cease operations for the duration of the state’s litigation. Additionally, the order froze the company’s assets, provided access to corporate and personal bank records and required the company turn over all trip records dating back to January 2013.
The $22,682 does not include civil penalties, which will be argued as part of the ongoing case, or additional refunds owed to other consumers found to have lost money as part of the continuing investigation.
The lawsuit, filed on June 26, alleges Cav’s Coach Company defaulted on its agreement to fully refund the canceled field trips, both scheduled to celebrate eighth-grade graduations.
The field trips, involving students at Kermit Area School and Crum Middle School in southwestern West Virginia, were canceled for different reasons, but in both instances the lawsuit alleges Cav’s Coach refunded less than one-fifth of the money students and faculty had paid.
The company has a history of defaulting on its contractual obligations at least six times since it began operating in 2005, according to the lawsuit.
In addition to Cav’s Coach and its owner, the lawsuit lists affiliate AllAboard Tours and Charters LLC as a defendant. All are based in Cross Lanes in western Kanawha County.
Mingo Circuit Court case number 17-C-113