Attorney General's News Release

December 17, 2008

Preliminary injunction prevents homebuilder accused of fraud from doing business while AG lawsuit is pending

Union, Mo. - The Franklin County Circuit Court has entered an order against homebuilder Jason Woods that prevents him from doing any home repair or construction in Missouri while a lawsuit brought by the Attorney General's Office is pending. The consent preliminary injunction was entered by Circuit Judge Cindy Eckelkamp on Dec. 15.

The lawsuit, filed in October, alleges that Woods, who does business as Timber Ridge Construction, took money for home repair or construction projects from consumers but then either failed to do the work or did the work in a shoddy manner.

According to the lawsuit, Woods entered into a contract with a consumer in Sullivan in which the defendant was to construct a new home on property owned by the consumer. While the house was in the process of being constructed, the consumer paid Woods a total of $138,951 for the job. However, Woods failed to complete the construction of the house per the specifications listed in the agreement. Damage included trusses and the roof needing replacement, the support beams being too short, the walls needing repair, and river rock being used instead of clean gravel on the driveway. As a result of the defendant's poor workmanship, the consumer reported that the house was uninhabitable.

In addition, the lawsuit alleges the defendant entered into a contract with a Hermann couple to construct a storage building on the couple's property. The couple paid Woods a total of $30,000 to construct the structure, but he failed to do so.

None of the consumers who paid Woods for the poor quality of non-existent work received a refund from the defendant.

The lawsuit asks the court to issue a permanent injunction to prevent Woods from continuing to violate state consumer protection laws. The Attorney General is also requesting that the court order Woods to pay full restitution to all consumers who were harmed by his unlawful conduct, as well as appropriate civil penalties.

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to the Communications Office.

E-mail      Phone: 573-751-8844         Fax: 573-751-5818