Marsha Blackburn Rushes To The Defense Of Awful, Protectionist State Broadband Laws

Suburban Express Changes Terms Of Service To Screw Sued College Students Out Of University-Provided Legal Aid

from the as-of-2015,-SE-will-be-fucking-you-in-a-new-location dept

Wed, Mar 4th 2015 3:38pm — Tim Cushing

Dennis Toeppen of Suburban Express is still deploying his highly-peculiar brand of "customer service" -- something that includes doxxing unhappy customers, suing unhappy customers, suing unhappy customers, suing unhappy customers and being arrested for "harassment through electronic communications."

Nothing has changed. Toeppen is still a lawsuit fan who believes negative reviewers or anyone who doesn't fully appreciate how hard it is to run a shuttle bus service should be forced to pay $500 (at least) in "liquidated damages." Now, he's looking to pave himself a downhill slope for his future lawsuit filing. Techdirt reader Kionae sends over this article from the University of Illinois' campus newspaper which contains a small detail that shows just how far Toeppen is willing to go to get his $500.

Suburban Express recently changed its “Terms & Conditions” so any legal action arising on the online transaction of tickets should take place in Ford County, roughly 30 miles north of Champaign.

In a statement on its website, the company said it chose Ford County “because of high availability of court dates, efficient court operation, excellent staff work ethic, low costs for both parties, easy parking, and other factors.”

This has nothing to do with "efficient court operations" and has everything to do with making it economically unfeasible for sued college students to fight back. Taking the action 30 miles away strips students of the following protection:

According to the Student Legal Services Operational Plan, Student Legal Services can only represent eligible students who have cases in or originating in Champaign County.

Toeppen's change of venue is carefully calculated to extract the most money/misery from the situation. That situation, of course, is Toeppen's inability to run a business and field criticism at the same time. In Toeppen's defense, he'll say he's never wrong and it's these spoiled brat students with overactive mouths who are to blame. (What? Did you think I was going to half-heartedly defend any aspect of Toeppen's behavior?)

With students forced to pay for their own defense against Toeppen's frivolous, vindictive lawsuits, the needle moves towards a higher default judgment rate. That's what Toeppen wants, considering his legal arguments are mostly indefensible. This should see his lawsuit-filing rate approaching the stratospheric highs of 2012-13, a two-year span in which Suburban Express filed 126 lawsuits. Toeppen is misusing the judicial system. Hopefully, the judges there will recognize his venue-shifting for what it is and push cases back to the proper courts.

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Filed Under: criticism, dennis toeppen, terms of service
Companies: suburban express

27 Comments

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Jake, 4 Mar 2015 @ 3:45pm

This is something like the third Techdirt post I've read today that's made me want to advocate the fine old US tradition of tarring, feathering and running out of town on a rail. I'm probably going to end up on some sort of government register at this rate.
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That One Guy (profile), 4 Mar 2015 @ 3:59pm

Unless they legally cannot offer legal/financial aid to students outside that limited area, I think it would be nice, and ever so funny, if they added a 'Toeppen clause', where the rules regarding aid are waived with regards to lawsuits filed by him, given how blatant his move is to make sure the students can't avail themselves of aid from the school.
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Sheogorath (profile), 4 Mar 2015 @ 4:34pm

New legal argument
According to the Student Legal Services Operational Plan, Student Legal Services can only represent eligible students who have cases in or originating in Champaign County.
Since the alleged cause of action occurred on my client's PC here in Champaign County...
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sorrykb (profile), 4 Mar 2015 @ 5:01pm

Re:
Let's go for the poetic justice instead: Sentence him to ride his own buses for all eternity. Or at least for a few years.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2015 @ 5:07pm

Re:
I can usually tell how many Tim C. posts there have been during the week by counting the number of drywall-repair patch kits I have to buy at the hardware store on Saturday.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2015 @ 5:07pm

Re:
Oh honey, you have an actual account here. You're ALREADY on the watchlist. Techdirt is a known haven of freedom hating techno-terrorists trying to spread the leader Kim Jong Masnick's radicalism to our children.
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kP (profile), 4 Mar 2015 @ 5:41pm

Sounds like this guy needs more competition
What's the story? Why do people keep doing business with this asshat?
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That One Guy (profile), 4 Mar 2015 @ 5:48pm

Re: Sounds like this guy needs more competition
Most likely because they haven't heard of him before they use his service. Having a reputation for suing people who expose his crap service can make it a dicey choice for people to tell others what a lousy service he's offering, and you can be sure he knows it.
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Nina Paley (profile), 4 Mar 2015 @ 6:27pm

Re: Sounds like this guy needs more competition
Sadly, Illini Shuttle/Suburban Express is the only game in town. I need to get to ORD for a speaking trip later this month and am trying to explain to the university sponsoring me that no way, no how will I use Suburban Express to get there. I'm going to try taking Amtrak to a southern Chicago suburb and then a (more expensive) cab from there. It would be nice if there were a decent bus to ORD from Chambana, since so many people need to go there.
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David, 4 Mar 2015 @ 7:19pm

There needs to be more awareness of this
Since he's suing unhappy customers, perhaps some unbiased reporting needs to be done. Like a thermometer style display showing "Suburban Express Lawsuits against Students - 2015". or simple signs that just say "Google Suburban Express Lawsuits". Conveniently placed near bus stops, the Student Union, Admissions Building, Dorm Lobbies, Cafeterias, etc.

Come on guys, crowd-fund this thing. Encourage the Freshmen to do a little due diligence.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2015 @ 8:18pm

Re: There needs to be more awareness of this
Don't ride that bus they will sue you for using the service.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2015 @ 8:28pm

All systems normal...
A co-worker bitches about Comcast almost weekly. Sometimes it's about their bill and others it's about the insane amount of ads they are forced to watch or the lack of good programming. Whatever the case, they really seem to dislike Comcast. Strangely, they backtrack and defend Comcast whenever I suggest they cut the cord. They act as if they have no choice in the matter; they are somehow forced to tolerate shitty, sub-par service.

Like Comcast, Suburban Express is just one of MANY companies that piss all over their customers and manage to remain in business. Meaningful change cannot happen until we, the customers, decide to force one of these assholes out of business by NOT BUYING ANYTHING FROM THEM UNTIL THEY ARE BANKRUPT.

I'd suggest voting with your wallets but nobody ever does so, meh, fuck it...
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Anonymous, 4 Mar 2015 @ 9:08pm

Suburban Express
Why can't the student newspaper run an article on how many students have been sued by this asshole and his company? As an Ill-annoy resident I'm offended this hasn't been run monthly by The Daily Illini.
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eaving (profile), 5 Mar 2015 @ 12:29am

Re: Re: Sounds like this guy needs more competition
Ive seen responses to this question on articles over on Ars. They give two, Ill add a third
1 He only has one real competitor who runs far fewer buses.
2 Hes cheaper than said competitor.
3 As his many customers are college students he'll have a constant flow of new victims that don't know the company is run by an asshat.
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Richard (profile), 5 Mar 2015 @ 2:29am

Re:
Doesn't "originating from" already cover the situation ?
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Richard (profile), 5 Mar 2015 @ 2:31am

Re: Re: There needs to be more awareness of this
The he'll try to find a way to sue people for not using the service.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Mar 2015 @ 2:36am

Re: There needs to be more awareness of this
Then he'll sue whoever put up the signs, everyone who is responsible for the buildings and didn't remove the signs, and a few completely unrelated students who happened to be near the signs.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Mar 2015 @ 2:37am

Re: Suburban Express
Because he'd sue the student newspaper.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Mar 2015 @ 4:55am

Re:
I prefer the tried and true method of the stocks or worst case a nice hanging to get the message across to the rest of the sleaze like this
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Kionae (profile), 5 Mar 2015 @ 6:42am

Re: Re:
I wondered about that as well... apparently, it refers to the location of the *court* the case originated in. Not the location of the plaintiffs or where the event that sparked the case occurred.
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Kionae (profile), 5 Mar 2015 @ 7:01am

Re: Sounds like this guy needs more competition
Well for one, his main competitor (Illini Tours, formerly Lincolnland Express) has their own problems. They're also higher in price and run fewer buses.

Interesting tidbit... Suburban Express has a lovely smear campaign page dedicated to them: http://www.suburbanexpress.com/lexsafety/

For another, this is a company that caters almost exclusively to college students. There are thousands of new ones every year, most of whom have never heard of any of these lawsuits.
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David, 5 Mar 2015 @ 7:03am

Re: Re: There needs to be more awareness of this
First he's have to find out who put them up. If they weren't riders, then he'd have to sue in the right county. Does IL have a good Anti-SLAPP law? That would really help.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Mar 2015 @ 7:48am

There is an easier way to shut him up, quit using his service, when he goes bust everyone wins.
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Dan G Difino, 5 Mar 2015 @ 9:24am

ToS are BS
Terms of Service are bullshit one-sided delivered up to internet surfers who have the same equal right to access the internet as these people who start these web sites. Terms of service are not contractual unless both parties agree to be bound by it and fully understand all stipulations which are usually written by lawyers and even under normal circumstances need to be deciphered by lawyers who understand the lawyerspeak and legal jargon within those ToS. Never will the ToS say that you should hire a lawyer to decipher the ToS. That should render them neutered.
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Docrailgun, 5 Mar 2015 @ 12:11pm

I hope...
... someone will make a small fortune winning legal fees from this douche doing pro bono work for these students.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Mar 2015 @ 2:32am

Re: Re: Sounds like this guy needs more competition
Former UIUC student here.

There's actually an Amtrak station in Champaign (station code CHM). Amtrak runs 3 trains a day from Chicago (CHI) to there.

There's also University of Illinois Willard Airport (airport code CMI) about 10 miles south of campus. It gets a few American Eagle flights from O'hare daily.
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JV, 13 Mar 2015 @ 9:19am

bbb is totally useless
Don't bother hoping bbb is fair and will help you.
They are bias to the business and are two face.
Sue the bastard who abused your trust if you don't care about lawyer fees.
don't waste your time or sleep.
I believe in judgement day.Let God be the judge.
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