Calling their actions “horrific” and their conduct “despicable,” a judge in Pulaski County Circuit Court on Tuesday ordered defunct Adoption Advantage and its former operators to pay $1.3 million in fines and restitution for repeated violations of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
In a consumer-protection lawsuit, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel accused the company, its founder, Ed Webb, and his ex-wife, Donna Gail Hight, of taking clients’ money - frequently with promises of a providing them a child - then providing little or nothing in return. The company promised to match clients with pregnant women willing to give up their unborn children for adoption no matter how long the process took.
A jury sided with the state attorneys after hearing from 18 angry Adoption Advantage clients during a week-long trial in April.
Adoption Advantage was in business for 16 years, but the complaints represented only customers from the 3½ -year period between February 2005 and November2008 because of the statute of limitations. Complaints of another 19 customers were submitted to the court by affidavit after the trial.
None of the complainants, who came from all over the country, ever received a child, and several questioned whether the agency actually had children available for adoption.
Called on under the law to assess punishment and restitution based on the jury findings, Judge Mackie Pierce said the penalties for the defendants were richly deserved.
“The court cannot envision any other case which would be more appropriate for civil penalties [and criminal penalties if they were available] than the present case,” Pierce’s ruling stated.“The actions of these defendants were simply horrific. Defendants preyed on the emotions and vulnerabilities of these consumers. Words cannot adequately describe the despicable conduct engaged in by these defendants.”
Pierce also barred Webb and Hight from participating in any Arkansas adoption again.
Adoption Advantage closed in 2009 under pressure from dissatisfied customers and state regulators. McDaniel said the company, Hight and Webb earned thousands of dollars, but their clients, some of whom paid their life savings to become parents, got only anguish in return.
“Many Arkansas families who earnestly wished to adopt were left with despair and heartbreak after dealing with the defendants,” McDaniel said. “Some consumers gave their life savings to this company to adopt a child. Instead, these callous individuals stole their hopes, dreams and their money.”
Pierce levied a fine of $370,000, the maximum fine available at $10,000 per victim, on behalf of 37 clients who claimed they had been cheated by Adoption Advantage. The deceptive trade statute, Arkansas Code 4-88-202, requires that money go into a special attorney-general fund for prosecuting consumer fraud against elderly and disabled victims as well as providing consumer education programs.
Pierce ordered the defendants to pay $850,749 in restitution and $33,577 to reimburse the attorney general’s office for its cost to bring the lawsuit in December 2010. The company, Hight and Webb were ordered to share in paying the $1,254,326 in fines and restitution ordered by the court.
Assistant Attorney General Cathi Compton had sought $480,000 in fines and $1 million in restitution on behalf of 46 complainants, but the judge said he could not impose sanctions and restitution on behalf of all those former clients since they had not provided the attorney general’s office with the documentation required to substantiate their claims against the company. Another complainant was denied restitution because Adoption Advantage had settled with that person in a separate lawsuit before trial.
Hight, of Prairie Grove, denied any wrongdoing at trial, telling jurors that Webb had been the sole owner and operator and had fired her in 2008 after she left him. They divorced in 2009 after 22 years of marriage. She said she was never an owner of the agency, although Webb had misled her into believing she was a co-owner. She also claimed that he had, at times, physically abused and intimidated her and would not take her advice on how to run the agency.
Hight, a registered nurse, said she worked on and off at the agency as she focused on raising the couple’s seven children, one of whom was adopted through the agency.
Raised by adoptive parents, she said she never saw any deliberate wrongdoing when she worked at the agency and would not have tolerated it if she had.She vehemently objected to accusations that she or the company had ever promised clients they would successfully adopt, testifying that no client she knew of was ever promised a baby, which would be illegal.
After the jury verdict, she fired her attorney, complaining the lawyer had not followed her instructions, had presented an inadequate defense and had not kept her informed of all of the legal issues.
She represented herself during the four post-trial months of arguing over restitution and penalties, claiming that state lawyers had overlooked the company’s record of successful adoptions in pursuing the litigation.
Hight, who now operates the Tennessee-based agency All For You Adoption and Family Services, stated in court filings that the unfavorable verdict would ruin her livelihood and jeopardize her ability to provide for her family. She did not return a phone call or email seeking comment Tuesday.
Webb, an attorney whose license was suspended in March for nonpayment of dues, and Adoption Advantage were found in default in 2011 after failing to respond to the lawsuit. His whereabouts are unknown.
The judge also ordered an ex-Adoption Advantage employee, Jacklyn Potter, found to have played a minor role in deception at the agency to be fined $1,000 for two deceptive-trade violations and to share in repaying the state’s legal expenses.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 08/21/2013