Isle travel agency counters
with $3 million lawsuit
A Honolulu travel agency that suspended operations last month and gave refunds to more than 2,000 customers has responded to a lawsuit filed by its air carrier with a counterclaim seeking $3 million in damages.
Jackie's Tours, which operates as Jackie's, filed the response in U.S. District Court yesterday, two weeks after dozens of customers lined up outside the agency's University Avenue offices to claim refunds for Las Vegas tour packages.
Jackie's lawyer said the damages would cover the company's projected loss of income through December.
The agency claims in its suit that its air carrier, World Airways Inc., breached a charter agreement by failing to submit essential paperwork to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Additionally, the agency alleges that World Airways intentionally withheld the application.
As a result, Jackie's lawyer said, the Transportation Department informed the agency on April 20 that it would not be able to operate future public charter tours and that all passengers after May 2 would have to be refunded immediately.
Jackie's also claims World Airways marred its reputation, and is seeking an undisclosed amount of punitive damages. The agency started its contract with World Airways in October.
"They basically put Jackie's out of business," said the agency's attorney, Ronald Au. "In the end, Jackie's the one that got hurt."
But a Honolulu attorney for World Airways said the agency's counterclaims are unfounded.
"Basically, they owe us money," said Roy Tjioe, of law firm Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel. "They haven't paid us."
World Airways filed a lawsuit against Jackie's late last month seeking payment of an alleged $2.7 million debt.
Au declined to explain the debt allegations last night, saying it was a complicated issue.
According to World Airways' suit, Jackie's failed to wire required payments into an escrow account with Valley National Bank.
The carrier contends that the travel agency has "been improperly maintaining payments from its passengers for these flights in two separate accounts, Hawaii National Bank and Central Pacific Bank, instead of depositing those funds into the escrow account."