Cabell Board of Education Files Lawsuit Against Travel Vendor on Behalf of District Families
The Cabell County Board of Education has filed a lawsuit in Cabell County Circuit Court against a travel vendor it says kept students’ funds after their planned trips to Washington. D.C. did not occur.
Through its lawsuit, the Board of Education is accusing Eric A. Morrison and E.T. Advisor Services, LLC, of collecting $136,500 from families from Barboursville Middle School and Milton Middle School during the 2019-2020 school year, and then not returning those funds when the trips were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The travel company has refused to return the funds our students and parents worked so incredibly hard to raise,” says Rhonda Smalley, President of the Cabell County Board of Education. “When it became obvious that the trips were not going to occur, our schools withheld a fifth installment payment families had made and were able to return those funds.”
Smalley says the school district researched whether or not it could issue direct payments for the remaining funds to the families while working to receive reimbursement from E.T. Advisor Services, but found it was not in a legal position to do so.
“The school district has been working diligently for nearly two years to find a way to ensure the travel company makes our families whole. It is disappointing we have come to this point, but we have exhausted all other avenues.”
Dr. Ryan Saxe, Superintendent of 91Ó°Ôº, says approximately 150 families from Barboursville Middle School and Milton Middle School are owed refunds from Eric A. Morrison and E.T. Advisor Services, LLC, which is based in Ona, West Virginia.
“We recognize the burden our families have had to bear because this contractor has refused to reimburse them,” says Dr, Saxe. “Our main goal in filing the lawsuit is to assist these families now by helping them get their money back. We are compelled to help right this wrong placed upon our children and their families.”
Thomas P. Boggs, an attorney with 91Ó°Ôº law firm Duffied, Lovejoy and Boggs, PLLC, is representing the Cabell County Board of Education in the lawsuit. Boggs will be conducting an informational meeting for impacted families Wednesday, October 5, 2022 at 5:30 PM at Cabell Midland High School.
For more information, please contact Sherrone Hornbuckle-Myers, General Counsel for 91Ó°Ôº, by calling (304) 528-5007.
