Mark
Friendswood,#2Consumer Comment
Mon, September 30, 2002
My answers to your questions..... 1) I did get a refund prior to the settlement with the Texas AG. This was back when Travelbridge actually cared about bad publicity and I was threatening them with pickets, TV Stations and more. Recently I have had contact with a couple of people that have gotten refunds through their credit card company mainly because Travelbridge failed to respond to the credit cards inquiries regarding disputes. 2) I started down the small claims court road. It looks like you have done your research. Since you haven't cashed your settlement check I don't see why you couldn't sue them. My guess is that they will fail to appear for the hearing, you will win by default, but since Travelbridge apparently has no assets in Texas, you will be unable to collect any settlement. On your other questions, contact the court clerk for help. Since the place of business was in Harris County, the suit should remain there if you file it there. Since you are suing under Texas Law it can't be moved out of state. However I think the only way you might ever collect a settlement would be to file suit in Arizona against the owners under Arizona law if they violated it. Even that might be problematic since your contract was made under Texas Law. 3) My opinion is that the agreement is worthless and is in violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The Texas AG obviously agrees since they went after Travelbridge on this issue. Once again you are back to Answer 2 though. 4) I don't think this matters, but you would probably have to prove that not being a member of ARC somehow reduced the value of the product. 5) I don't know the answer to this, but I think the travel agent industry is self-regulated with groups like IATAN. 6) $5000 is the limit in small claims court. To get more you would have to file in a regular civil court. Small Claims Court is designed as a means to settle smaller disputes without attorney's etc. 7) Another one for the court clerk.....I suppose the judge could add attorney's fees to the settlement as long as it doesn't exceed $5000 total in small claims. 8) The answer here might be a federal class action lawsuit assuming that there is some basis under federal law for that lawsuit....or a lawsuit in Arizona assuming that Arizona law has been broken. Aside from organizing a lawsuit, I think the problem will be finding a lawyer to take it on unless it can be shown that the defendant has very deep pockets that are vulnerable to such a lawsuit and that is questionable. Who knows what happened to all that money.....could be in a swiss bank account by now. 9) None, but I am not a lawyer. I've been following this for a long time and have spoken to many other victims. I think at this point that your options are limited and the options that do exist will require some extraordinary effort. I really wouldn't expect Texas courts to help out very much only because I think Travelbridge has pulled all of its assets out of the jurisdiction of Texas courts making it impossible to collect a judgement. All the rented offices that still exist have rented furniture and rented computers and probably even rented employees....nothing that you could seize. Good Luck!!!