Griffin: ‘Arkansas consumers deserve to be dealt with honestly and fairly by companies doing business here, so I will continue to hold businesses accountable when they fail to uphold those standards’

LITTLE ROCK – After filing a lawsuit against Knoxville, Arkansas-based Coast to Coast, Inc. in Pulaski County Circuit Court, Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement:

“Today I filed a lawsuit against Coast to Coast, Inc., a company that specializes in selling prefabricated metal structures, and its owners for violating the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

“In the past five years, my office has received 62 consumer complaints against Coast to Coast. The complaints follow the same pattern: The consumer places an order for a prefabricated building, either through a dealer or through Coast to Coast’s website, and pays an up-front deposit. Coast to Coast then provides an estimate of when the consumer’s building will be delivered and installed.

“Many consumers purchase necessary construction permits or pour concrete in preparation for the installation, based upon the timeline provided by Coast to Coast. The estimated delivery window passes with no communication from Coast to Coast. When the consumer contacts Coast to Coast about the order, Coast to Coast is unable to provide an updated estimate, and if the consumer continues to call or email, Coast to Coast stops responding altogether.

“Arkansas consumers deserve to be dealt with honestly and fairly by companies doing business here, so I will continue to hold businesses accountable when they fail to uphold those standards.”

The lawsuit seeks civil penalties for all 62 complaints brought in the past five years, each of which carry a maximum of $10,000. Enhanced penalties – an additional $10,000 per violation – can apply in cases involving victims who are 60 years old or older or who are disabled. Enhanced penalties are being sought for 33 of the 62 complaints, so total penalties assessed in the case could well exceed $500,000.

To read the complaint filed today, click here.

About Attorney General Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.

Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 27 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.

He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née Bragg), North Carolina, and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin attends Immanuel Baptist Church and lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.

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