GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Rockford tree service has settled with the Attorney General’s office after a lawsuit claimed the company used illegal business practices and misled customers.
Michigan’s Choice Tree Service, LLC, Storm Support Emergency Tree Removal, LLC, and their owner David Foster have agreed to pay $13,500 to cover customers’ losses, civil fines and lawsuit expenses.
As part of the settlement signed by both parties last week, Storm Support has agreed not to operate in Michigan unless it gets a certificate of authority required from the Michigan Limited Liability Company Act. It also pledges not to help other companies with emergency tree services or operate under other business names without notifying the AG’s office in advance.
‘Excessive prices’: AG sues tree service LLCs, owner
The lawsuit, filed by Michigan’s Attorney General, accuses the tree service of violating MLLCA, Michigan Consumer Protection Act (MCPA) and breaches of contract. During investigation into the company, the AG’s office said it found evidence that Michigan’s Choice was confusing customers about their rights and misleading them about the agreements they were signing, the costs of the services and their responsibility for the costs insurance didn’t cover.
The lawsuit said Foster did not give any cost estimates and led customers to believe he would work with insurers so they would not have to pay anything out of pocket. Then, Michigan’s Choice would allegedly have customers sign contracts holding them liable for any costs that insurance did not cover.
The LLC also demonstrated “a pattern of charging grossly excessive prices,” a release from the AG’s office said. Storm Support charged about $23,700 to remove three branches from a roof in Lansing, about $39,500 to remove a tree that fell on a Grand Rapids house and about $26,100 to remove a tree that fell on a Cedar Springs home, according to the AG’s office.
The office said it has “dual goals of allowing Defendants to continue operating so long as they can do so in a lawful manner and securing binding assurances that Defendants will permanently cease their unfair and deceptive business practices.”
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