Suit seeks damages from EMA

CLARK FORK — A Texas couple is seeking triple damages from a therapeutic boarding school in Bonner County after their granddaughter was expelled after they paid $41,600 in tuition and other fees.

Rex and Gayle Reynolds of Galveston said they outlaid the sum to Elk Mountain Academy, which included the $18,500 cost for an initial 42-day wilderness program, on behalf of their 13-year-old granddaughter, who was expelled from the school for making suicidal and homicidal threats, according to a suit filed in 1st District Court on Dec. 20.

The teen was transferred to Kootenai Behavioral Health’s acute-care clinic in Coeur d’Alene after spending about 20 days at the school, according to documents filed in conjunction with the lawsuit.

The couple’s counsel, Coeur d’Alene attorney Cameron Phillips, contends the school is violating his clients’ cover under the Idaho Consumer Protection Act.

“Plaintiffs are consumers in this transaction, of course, since they were talked into parting with $41,600, transferring that amount to defendant to care for their 13-year-old granddaughter for approximately three weeks time,” Phillips said in the civil complaint.

Moreover, the plaintiffs are over the age of 62, which qualifies them as “elderly” in the eyes of the Idaho Consumer Protection Act.

“Defendant in this case did fact engage in unfair methods and practices in falsely misleading plaintiffs as to the value and effectiveness of its services, thereby causing plaintiffs to suffer and ascertainable loss of money,” Phillips added in the suit.

The suit seeks $138,300 in treble damages, in addition to $25,000 in punitive damages and $5,000 in attorney fees, court records indicate.

Elk Mountain Academy has 21 days to respond to the civil suit, according to Idaho law.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.