BENTONVILLE -- Benton County Circuit Judge Xollie Duncan found a former Bentonville-based company harmed dozens of Arkansas consumers and violated the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
She ruled April 22 the company is to pay $2.6 million to the state as result of a lawsuit concerning timeshare exit services.
The Arkansas Attorney General's Office filed a lawsuit in July 2019 against Real Travel LLC and the company's owners, Brian Scroggs and Bart Bowe, alleging Real Travel sold timeshare exit services to consumers nationwide. The office accused Real Travel of collecting millions of dollars from consumers but never getting them out of their timeshare contracts.
In exchange for a fee ranging from about $5,000 to $18,000, Real Travel convinced consumers it would "liquidate, cancel, or transfer" their unwanted timeshares, according to a news release from the attorney general's office.
Duncan ruled the defendants harmed 88 consumers in Arkansas and ordered Real Travel and Scroggs pay $1,035,285 restitution to those consumers. The money will be paid to the attorney general's office and then distributed to the affected consumers, according to the judge's order.
The judge assessed civil penalties of $120,000 for 12 violations of the state Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
Duncan also ordered enhanced civil penalties of $1,540,000 for 77 violations of the trade practices act against elder persons. The money will be placed into the Elder Person and Person with Disability Fund, which is administered by the attorney general for investigation and prosecution of deceptive acts against an elder person or a person with a disability and for consumer education initiatives, according to the judge's order.
Duncan issued an injunction in her April order against Real Travel and Scroggs to prevent the use or employment of any prohibited practices in violation of the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act. She also ordered the defendants not to do any business related to time shares until the restitution and all penalties are paid in full.
Duncan issued a separate order in October concerning Bowe. She ordered him to pay $50,000 restitution and $450,000 in suspended civil penalties, according to court documents.