Case Details

Year Initiated/Committed

1999

Year Resolved

2000

Settlement Amount

$16,000

Court

Circuit Court of the Fifth Judicial Circuit in and for Hernando County, Florida

Docket Number

99-1535-CA-01

Lead State

FL

Participating States

FL

Defendant(s)

Hernando County Association of Travel Professionals, Inc.; Around the Earth Travel, Inc.; Diana’s Travel South, Inc.; Jo-My Group, Inc. d/b/a ACBS Travel Agency; MV Travel & Investments, Inc. d/b/a Abba Travel; Premier Travel Associates, Inc.; Seven Hills Travel Service, Inc.; Voyager Travel, Inc.; West of the Moon, Inc.

Case Description

As part of a negotiated settlement, the State of Florida sought civil penalties and injunctive relief, alleging that defendant travel agencies entered into contracts, combinations and conspiracies to charge their customers “transaction fees” for certain services; raised, fixed, stabilized and maintained the amounts of such fees; and regulated and limited the types and amount of advertising by any of them in the BellSouth Yellow Pages. In order to resolve the dispute without further costly litigation, the parties entered a settlement in which the defendant travel agencies agreed to pay $16,000 in civil penalties and agreed to refrain from the alleged conduct. Of the settlement sum, $9,467.28 was paid to the State of Florida in investigative costs and attorney’s fees.