KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. – (WIS) A Lugoff law firm is considering pursuing litigation against a local travel agent accused of defrauding clients out of more than $60,000.
In October, the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office charged 43-year-old Melissa Hanna, formerly of Dream Vacations, in connection with three separate fraud incidents.
Warrants show that clients paid Hanna thousands, only to later find that their credit card information had been stolen, and their trips had been canceled or changed.
“Vacation’s supposed to be fun,” Ben Connell, an attorney for the alleged victims, said. “You’re supposed to be able to go and have a good time and get away and enjoy that with your family. They shouldn’t be stressful. But instead of it being fun, it’s been a nightmare for several folks.”
Connell and his law partner Derek Shoemake are investigating what possible claims to bring against both Hanna and against Dream Vacations.
To this point, they are representing at least two dozen people who claim Hanna stole money from them, and believe more clients may come forward.
The scheme occurred over the span of months, and Kershaw County Sheriff Lee Boan explained that sometime Hanna would take client money, put it in her Square account, and sometimes use the stolen funds for personal cruises.
“If these allegations are true, it’s awful,” Shoemake said. “I mean imagine being a newly-widowed person and the vacation you had spent to sort of get away from all that is fraught with nightmare scenarios. Imagine being at a ticket counter and being pulled out of line and investigated for credit card fraud because the person you booked your trip with used someone else’s credit card. Allegations like this are in public record now, and these are the things that we’re looking at.”
Connell and Shoemake said in a Tuesday interview that their goals are to protect the alleged victims and ensure they get their money back and their rights are protected.
They also hope to send a message to anyone who might abuse a position of trust to take advantage of clients: there will be consequences.
“If you’re doing the wrong thing, we’re going to help these people,” Shoemake said. “Someone’s going to come after you if you’re doing the wrong thing.”
Those consequences are already being felt, as Hanna faces several charges, including ones related to her alleged pilfering of client money.
Alex Postic, Hanna’s attorney in the criminal case, declined comment on Tuesday.
He said it is unclear if he would represent her in any potential civil action.
Dream Vacations has fired Hanna, and Boan said it is unlikely the company did anything criminal.
Civil liability, the attorneys said, is a different story.
“It may be true that, for example, Dream Vacations – their conduct may not rise to the level of criminal action, but it could rise to the level of civil action,” Shoemake said.
The attorneys believe that when a company puts its name on something, there is an understanding that the company is vouching for the quality of that product.
“We believe that [Dream Vacations] facilitated the alleges crimes in some way, and we think that investigations may prove that out, and that’s why we’re looking into it,” Connell said.
Many of the alleged victims are still fighting with credit cards companies due to ongoing credit authorization disputes that emerged from this “quagmire,” he added.
No lawsuit has been filed yet.
If the attorneys do move forward with civil action, they said it would likely be one suit with all the alleged victims as plaintiffs.
In a statement, Dream Vacations said, “Dream Vacations is a travel agency franchisor that has been in business for more than 30 years and each location is independently owned and operated. We are aware of the arrest of Melissa Hanna, a former franchise owner who allegedly engaged in fraudulent activity with respect to the handling of customer payments. As a result, we have terminated Hanna’s franchise.
Dream Vacations’ management does not tolerate fraudulent activity of any kind and has been cooperating with the local authorities. Dream Vacations denies any liability in connection with the activities by Melissa Hanna. We believe any litigation brought against Dream Vacations would be without merit. We believe strongly in our agents and franchisees in the Dream Vacations network, and the unscrupulous behavior of one rogue agent does not represent how our company and other Dream Vacations travel agents conduct business.”
The company did not respond to a questions about when it was first notified of issues surrounding Hanna
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Lugoff attorneys consider litigation against travel agent accused of defrauding clients
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