Delta Sonic Faces Class Action From Joliet Customer 'To Avoid Burdening The Courts With Individual Lawsuits'

JOLIET, IL — A woman who has been a customer at the Joliet Delta Sonic Carwash along West Jefferson Street and Larkin Avenue has retained a Chicago lawyer to pursue a class action complaint against the Illinois company, accusing Delta-Sonic of violating the Illinois Automatic Contract Renewal Act and the Illinois Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act "in regard to its car wash memberships."

"It is desirable to concentrate this litigation in this forum to avoid burdening the courts with individual lawsuits. Individualized litigation presents a potential for inconsistent or contradictory results and also increases the delay and expense to all parties and the court system presented by the legal and factual issues of this case," argues attorney Matthew T. Peterson on behalf of his Joliet litigant.

According to the lawsuit, Delta Sonic has 10 car washes in Illinois that offer automatic monthly carwashes for a fixed price.

"Defendant systematically violates the Illinois Automatic Contract Renewal Act by failing to provide an acknowledgement after a consumer signs up for a membership that includes the automatic renewal offer terms, cancellation policy, and information regarding how to cancel, which may be accomplished by linking to a resource that provides instructions that account for different platforms and services, in a manner that is capable of being retained by the consumer," the lawsuit contends.

The Chicago lawyer for Stacey indicates he filed his lawsuit in Will County "because the transactions out of which this cause of action arises occurred in this county, as plaintiff purchased her monthly pass in this county."

The lawsuit further explains that Stacey "sometime in the last several years ... visited the Delta Sonic car wash in Joliet ... that defendant operates at 1812 West Jefferson Street and purchased the monthly membership for both interior and exterior. Defendant failed to provide an acknowledgement after she signed up for the monthly membership that included the automatic renewal offer terms, cancellation policy, and information regarding how to cancel ... it is defendant's uniform policy and practice to not provide such cancelation instructions to all consumers at each of the locations that defendant operates in Illinois," the lawsuit contends. "Plaintiff had issues trying to cancel her membership even when she went to the Joliet location where she signed up and requested for the attendant to cancel her membership.

"Plaintiff was told to contact corporate, which plaintiff had difficulty doing. Plaintiff ultimately had the membership canceled," explained her attorney, who listed himself in the lawsuit as Consumer Law Advocate.

The Joliet woman's lawsuit points out, "plaintiff suffered real monetary loss as a result of defendant's failure to properly disclose its autorenewal terms, cancellation policy, and how to cancel the membership. Plaintiff brings this action on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated ... the precise number of Class members are unknown to plaintiff but exceeds 40 individuals. The true number of Class members is known by defendant and potential Class members may be identified and notified of the pendency of this action by first class mail, electronic mail, text message and or published notice."

The 10-page lawsuit asks Will County's judges to appoint Stacey, the Joliet Delta Sonic customer, as representative of the class and appoint her lawyer as class counsel.

The lawsuit wants Will County's judiciary to declare that Delta Sonic's actions violate both the Illinois Automatic Contract Renewal Act and Illinois Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and "award plaintiff and the Class refunds for amounts not authorized to be re-occurring charges."

The lawsuit also seeks an award of reasonable attorney's fees and costs and other litigation expenses.

A lawsuit summons has been sent to the Delta Sonic company, and its legal representatives have not entered an appearance or filed their response to this week's Will County lawsuit.