State files consumer fraud suit against adoption company

State files consumer fraud suit against adoption company

November 18th, 2008 @ 10:30am

by KTAR.com

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has filed a consumer fraud suit against a Tucson adoption company that shut down earlier this year.
The suit named Commonwealth Adoptions International Inc., its president Marina Mahew, director of operations Dawn Hill and board members Jim Sellers, James Mayhew, Dan Bish and William Hundelang. It alleged the company failed to refund nearly $215,000 to families when it folded.
"These families made life-changing decisions and gave this company their money and their trust," Goddard said. "They deserve to be reimbursed, and Commonwealth needs to be held accountable for violating the terms of its agreements."
Court documents alleged that Commonwealth engaged in a pattern of misrepresentations and deceptive practices in the sale of domestic and foreign adoption services to families. The suit said Commonwealth pooled the fees, using money paid by one set of parents to pay for other families' adoptions.
When Commonwealth went out of business on July 31, 2008, about two dozen families requested refunds, but the defendants refused to reimburse them, the suit said.
The suit asked that Commonwealth be ordered to provide full restitution to all families and that the defendants be banned from conducting any future business in Arizona.