A-1 Exterminating Trial Ends Favorably For A Victim of Fraud

A-1 Exterminating Co. Inc. of Gadsden, Alabama found itself in hot water for cheating a cancer-stricken widow and school teacher. After two days of preliminary work and three days of testimony its insurance companies finally knuckled under and agreed to a settlement which requires keeping the amount paid a secret. They paid the price for covering up $61,000 of termite problems.

Like other A-1 customers, Wynelle Robinson was tricked into paying A-1 for twenty years of termite prevention service. A-1 claimed to be performing annual treatments. The company confessed the annual sprays were useless for termite prevention, criminal violations of Alabama's Termite Code but the routine practice for this major East-Alabama pest control company.

During jury selection 18 of 48 potential jurors identified themselves as victims of the same scam. Each one testified that they thought the annual renewal was for a termite treatment. Potential jurors hammered A-1 lawyers when the lawyers admitted in the jury selection process that the annual sprays “were not for termites.”

A-1 used chemicals that wore off in a few years but failed to apply required booster treatments. It fraudulently concealed the practice and continues to conceal this wrongdoing from thousands of other customers. A-1 is now tricking customers into paying for new treatments when it never provided one in the first place. Campbell Law is actively investigating those claims. Anyone with information about this practice is encouraged to call Campbell Law PC.

A-1's wealthy president, Eddie Wrenn, threatened a witness to intimidate her into declining to testify. Mr. Wrenn threatened the witness by threatening to sue her for $85,000 plus attorney fees if she testified. A-1 tried to muscle the Director of Service Ministries at the Gadsden First United Methodist Church into declining to do the right thing and testify truthfully at trial. If the case had gone to the jury for a decision, the jury would have been instructed that witness tampering and intimidation is evidence of guilt. Not only is this obstruction of justice shameful and immoral, witness intimidation is a felony. Witness tampering is a criminal misdemeanor.

In a bizarre twist, an adjuster for A-1’s insurer accused the victims lawyers of unethical conduct because the company was accused of fraud by Tom Campbell in his opening statement to the jury. An adjuster for A-1's insurer, Westport Insurance, accused Campbell Law PC attorneys after opening statements of unethical conduct by accusing its insured of fraud and greed in the opening remarks. This bewildering assertion occurred just hours after the lawyers it hired for the case confessed that both fraud claims and punitive damages were covered by its insurance policies and that they were properly issues in the case. In response, Campbell Law's senior litigator, Tom Campbell, told the adjuster that fraud and cheating dying widows was the unethical conduct that should concern the insurer who was bound to protect the company's interest.

Undisputed evidence showed that at least 42% of the company's termite prevention services fail. A nationally known expert testified that this failure rate is "horrible." If A-1 had correctly applied and maintained the treatment to inoculate the home from termites, Alabama's top watchdog, Joe Debrow, testified that termite inoculations should be proven as 100% effective for at least five years. In other words, a vaccinated house should get termites as often as children get Rubella in this day and age.

Paul Bello, an industry veteran and frequent contributor to industry trade publications, explained to the jury that his investigation of A-1’s practices revealed failure rates that are “horrible” when compared to the 100% effectiveness that is the government standard.

A-1's Manager, Terry Buchannan, testified moments before the verdict was reached that the company intended to continue the ongoing fraudulent and deceptive practice of spraying homes at annual termite inspections because company owners Eddie and David Wrenn require employees to do it or get fired. The Wrenn's require each annual renewal inspector to collect $250,000 per year for the scam from the company's 9,000 customers. The inspectors then get to keep 13% of it – or $32,500. The Wrenn brother's enterprise nets the remaining $217,500 earned off each technician.

Campbell Law PC cannot disclose the dollar amount of the settlement since keeping the number was a condition of settlement. Campbell Law represents other victims of this scam. Expect additional trials.

Tom Campbell, Campbell Law’s principal, lead the team and opened the case, and examined the regulatory official, Plaintiff’s expert entomologist, A-1 CEO, and its general manager. Keiron McGowin, a Campbell Law litigator, conducted a brilliant examination of the jury pool, three other A-1 witnesses, and analyzed, organized thousands of documents produced in discovery. McGowin also beat-back two attempts to have the case thrown out before trial and wrote numerous bench memos on legal issues the team anticipated arising during trial. Liz Harper, an eleven-year veteran paralegal, mined data from 39 customer files and presented summaries containing almost 900 items of data. Ray Bronner, Zach Brooks, and Melvalyn Means provided support for the trial team from Campbell Law’s offices in Birmingham.