PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against various bus tour operations run by Barry Somes of Cumberland Center, alleging the companies did not return deposits for vacation bus tours that catered to older people.
“Mr. Somes took money from many elderly people who were looking forward to what might be their only vacation of the year,” Attorney General Janet Mills said in a news release issued Thursday.
The lawsuit, filed Feb. 26, asks a Kennebec County Superior Court judge to prohibit Somes from doing similar business in the future, to provide restitution to unreimbursed customers for canceled tours and to assess a penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation of the state’s Unfair Trade Practices Act.
It alleges two counts of violating that law, for failing to pay refunds on deposits for canceled tours and for failing to ensure the trips set off as planned. The Attorney General’s Office said it had received 54 complaints from customers, 17 of whom did receive refunds.
The lawsuit was filed against Somes individually and companies operating as Seacoast Convention Bureau Inc. and Club Impac Inc., the latter of which it said was formed to raise funds for a charity to benefit children, called the Lids for Kids Project Inc.
The third count of the lawsuit alleges Somes advertised that a portion of tour bookings would go to the children’s charity, but did not make such donations.
Somes’ company Seacoast Convention Bureau was registered with the Maine Secretary of State’s Office in 1988 and also operates under the names TourBUSters and O Salon, according to state records.