By Laura Del Rosso
SAN FRANCISCO -- The law firm of McKenna and Cuneo of San
Francisco filed a response in Superior Court in Sacramento on
behalf of 74 ASTA agencies named in a lawsuit brought by Consumer
Action League, which claims agencies violated the California Seller
of Travel Law by failing to post registration numbers on their Web
sites.
The ASTA response contends that the league has no legal basis in
filing the suit against the agencies and recovering any punitive
damages as a result of the alleged misconduct.
"Given the scant nature of the 'injury' alleged, if any, ... the
primary objective of the suit is to collect attorneys' fees," the
response states.
"It is an abuse of the judicial process and a waste of resources
for all concerned ... to sue over 250 companies in this beleaguered
industry."
Separately, the Alexander Anolik law firm in San Francisco filed
a response in Superior Court in Sacramento on behalf of four
agencies.
The response also contends that the league has no legal basis to
sue the agencies and that its main purpose is to collect attorneys'
fees.
Anolik's response also claims that the league is not entitled to
bring suit to enforce the Seller of Travel law because the law
itself is unconstitutional. The law violates the commerce clause of
the U.S. Constitution because it interferes in interstate commerce,
the response states.
In April, Sacramento attorney Brian Kindsvater filed suit
against 225 agencies with California locations on behalf of an
entity called the Consumer Action League. However, Kindsvater, in
an interview with Travel Weekly, said that the league does not
exist as a "full-blown" organization and that the plaintiff is an
individual, whom he would not name.
He said he would drop the suit against agencies if they posted
their registration numbers on Web sites and paid the league a
settlement fee, which would be confidential.