Oct. 28, 2015—A Wake County judge has banned an international shipping company from doing business in North Carolina, and ordered it to pay $800,000 in refunds and penalties for allegedly failing to deliver packages to consumers.
Judge Donald Stephens signed a default judgment that permanently bars Medrano Express, Diamond Shipping Inc., and the companies’ owner and manager Jorge Medrano from the shipping business in the state. The judgment also prohibits the defendants from seeking to collect payment from North Carolina consumers.
Medrano Express, which has filed for bankruptcy, specialized in shipping items to Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Mexico. Based in Hempstead, NY, the company also operated under the name Diamond Shipping. The company had locations in at least 20 states, including locations in Charlotte and Raleigh.
The NC Attorney General’s Office sued the defendants last year after receiving complaints from 118 consumers. The lawsuit alleged the companies failed to deliver packages to consumers who had prepaid for delivery. The complaint also alleged the company provided false estimates of shipping dates, gave untrue excuses for why the packages were delayed and charged consumers for phony insurance.
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