UPS Store has overcharged customers seeking to have documents notarized, a class action lawsuit asserts.
Attorney Katrina Carroll, and others with the firms of Carlson Lynch LLP, of Chicago, and Whitfield Bryson LLP, of Raleigh, N.C., and Nashville, Tenn., filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court,
They represented named plaintiff Reba Shavers, of Chicago.
According to the class action complaint, the UPS Store has improperly charged Illinois customers a flat fee of $5 to have documents notarized at its Illinois stores, even though they claim the law only allows notaries public to charge $1 per notarial act performed.
At least 175 stores operate under The UPS Store brand in Illinois, providing a range of parcel and office-related services, including notary services.
According to the complaint, UPS Store has been sued on other occasions for this alleged practice, which the complaint said “systematically flouts laws on notary fees, including that of Illinois.”
“Despite this knowledge, (The UPS Store) has failed to change their prices to comport with state statutes and take measures to assure that its franchisees adhere to state law controlling the feels that notaries charge,” the complaint asserts.
According to the complaint, named plaintiff Shavers asserts she was overcharged for notary services by a UPS Store franchisee in Chicago in April, when she was charged $10 for notary services.
The lawsuit seeks to expand the action to include a class of additional plaintiffs that could include everyone who paid notary fees of more than $1 at a UPS Store in Illinois. The complaint asserts this class will number in the “hundreds if not thousands” of additional class plaintiffs.
The lawsuit also seeks to establish a class of defendants to include everyone who owned or operated a UPS Store in Illinois and provided notary services.
The complaint seeks unspecified compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages, plus attorney fees.