Richard Attenborough, III and Stevee Paige Castle-Lagerquist, principals of Tri-State Paving, will pay the fine and restitution to resolve a pending state lawsuit, the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a news release issued Wednesday.
Tri-State Paving will pay a $10,000 penalty to the state and make “full restitution to all known homeowners victimized by the business totaling $33,400 in refunds.”
The penalties were outlined in a consent order that New York State Supreme Court Justice James McClusky signed, Schneiderman’s office said.
The order also “permanently bars” the business and its principals from using the “deceptive” sales tactics identified in the lawsuit, and from performing any home-improvement contractor work for three years.
If the business doesn’t make “timely” refunds to the homeowners identified in the consent order, the state will not allow Tri-State Paving to handle home-improvement contractor work “for at least six years.”
About the case
Schneiderman had filed suit and obtained a temporary restraining order against Tri-State Paving in May.
The lawsuit alleged that the business “defrauded” homeowners with a “deceptive” paving scheme and failed to comply with New York’s home-improvement contractor law.
The investigation that Schneiderman’s office conducted revealed that the business routinely solicited work from homeowners by claiming to have “leftover” paving material from a nearby job and would suggest they could give the homeowner a good price on their paving work.
Tri-State Paving then “regularly performed unauthorized work and demanded extremely high payments,” often thousands of dollars.
The lawsuit also alleged that Tri-State Paving “wholly failed” to utilize home-improvement contracts that state law requires.
Schneiderman’s investigation further uncovered that Tri-State Paving had performed work throughout the state, including the North Country and Binghamton regions, and that Attenborough had “multiple encounters” with law-enforcement agencies in different jurisdictions regarding the “same illegal conduct over a period of many years.”
In New York, home-improvement contractors, such as paving companies, are required to use contracts for any job that costs the homeowner more than $500.
Both parties must sign the contract, which needs to include proposed start and completion dates, a description of the work involved, provided materials, total cost of the contract, and a notice to the consumer of their unconditional three-day right to cancel the contract without penalty, Schneiderman’s office said.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com