LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- More families said they were scammed out of thousands of dollars by a Louisville pool company that promised to build them pools, only to vanish taking the customers' money with them.
A lawsuit filed Thursday in Jefferson Circuit Court claims Davenport Extreme Pools and Spas knowingly defrauded 14 families by entering into a contract to build a pool without any intention of doing so.
"Though the Company appears to have completed some pools for customers, it has become clear that the Company's primary purpose was to serve as a vessel through which Davenport funneled millions of dollars of customer funds into her own pockets," the lawsuit says.
The company's owner, Tracy Davenport, is named as the defendant in the suit. She and her company were the subject of a WDRB News investigation in January that found more than two dozen families paid Davenport to build a pool only to never see the pool built.
In the lawsuit filed Thursday, plaintiffs allege that "Davenport stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in customer funds" and instead of building pools used that money for "lavish vacations to Las Vegas, personal cosmetic surgeries, a six-figure recreational vehicle, and the purchase of an expensive pleasure cruising lake boat.'
At least two other lawsuits were already filed against Davenport and its owner, alleging the company stopped responding to customers' communications after no work was done and they attempted to get their deposits back.
Families claim that Davenport would offer a several thousand dollar discount on the overall price of the pool if they agreed to pay a significant deposit upfront. Some families paid a portion while others paid the entire amount upfront in order to receive the discount.
Mark Didat said he signed a contract with the company in June 2021 and wrote a deposit check for $34,750, or 40% deposit of the cost. According to an email to Didat from Davenport included in the lawsuit, the pool was set to be installed by September. The pool still hasn't been built. Some families paid upwards of $100,000.
But an attorney for Davenport, Ken Henry, told WDRB in January that the company still had every intention of building the pools.
"There is no fraud here. Fraud requires intent. And there was no intent to defraud anyone," Henry said. "Businesses have problems from time to time…businesses run into dry spells and have other issues. Costs go up, for example. There was never any intent on the part of Tracy Davenport or Davenport Extreme Pools and Spa incorporated to defraud anybody. These people who are going around saying these sorts of things are running the risk of being on the wrong side of these issues down the road."
In December, Davenport filed for bankruptcy protection in federal court. That case is still pending.
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