Home is Lost as Cincinnati Grandmother Targeted by Terminix

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UPDATE 12/28/16: Terminix lost its effort to dismiss fraud and consumer protection act claims on December 28, 2016. Judge Foley denied Terminix’s motion to have these claims dismissed from the lawsuit. Terminix will face a jury in Cincinnati beginning January 9, 2017.

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Terminix wants to deny the estate of a grandmother from bringing the entirety of her fraud and deceptive trade practices claims to trial on January 9, 2017. The largest termite company in America alleges she should not be able to sue for all the deceptive practices it committed over 24 years because she should have caught them sooner.

Terminix’s contract with the woman says they will treat every year if it is needed to prevent termites. Over 24 years, Terminix treated parts of the house. So it is reasonable for the homeowner to assume the company was doing exactly what the contract called for – treating to prevent termites.

Terminix did not tell the grandmother that the treatments were actually taking place because the home was being slowly eaten away by termites. However, after concealing that the treatments were not for maintenance but for treating ongoing infestation, Terminix says she should have figured out termites were eating the house – even though she was paying Terminix to inspect for that very evidence on a yearly basis.

Motions filed in Court do not explain how she could have discovered the house was being eaten since the evidence of infestation was in ceiling joists attics or crawl, spaces grandmothers rarely visit.

Terminix also never disclosed that its initial treatment in 1989 skipped major areas of the home that state and federal laws required Terminix to treat. The company does not explain how a consumer should discover these facts either.

Terminix also concealed that it used a chemical called Pryfon for its partial initial treatment. Terminix knew before it started using the product that tests showed microbes like to eat the chemical so it would disappear quickly. Farmers stopped using it for corn for that reason in the mid-1980’s – before Terminix decided to use it to prevent termites for years or decades.

Terminix knew Pryfon lasted less than a growing season for Ohio farmers but somehow claims it did not know it fails to last 25 years when sprayed for termites.

If you know Terminix employees or if you used to be one and you are willing to come to trial and explain why Terminix knew Pryfon was a bad chemical as one of its former Arkansas top officials admitted in pretrial deposition testimony, tell us your story.