UPDATED: Attorney General Sues Fence Company

MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- A Minneapolis fencing company will have to pay over $42,000 in restitution to customers it never served, according to court documents. The court order was signed on June 8.

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson sued the Alpine Fence Company, LLC under Minnesota's consumer protection laws. The company solicited large prepayments from customers for fences it never build.

Chad Thompson, the owner of the company, was a defendant in the suit. The lawsuit, which was filed at the Hennepin County District Court in December of 2016, says that Alpine required customers to make prepayments up to 50 percent of the total cost while not completing the work in some cases.

It also alleged that the company said it was accredited by the Better Business Bureau, "when in fact is accreditation had been revoked," according to a press release. The Attorney General's office claims that the prepayments for work not completed ranged from $1,500 to almost $6,000. "Alpine then failed to install fences for some customers," the release says.

Court documents revealed a list of eight complainants, both individuals and businesses, who were affected by Alpine's practices.

The lawsuit claimed that when customers attempted to nullify their contracts with Alpine due to incomplete work, Thompson was "unresponsive to their requests and failed to make refunds of customers' prepayments."

"The suit seeks injunctive relief, civil penalties, and restitution for victims of the company’s practices."

(EDITOR'S NOTE): This article has been updated with information from court documents.

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