Company Settles Suit: Holiday Retreats Inc., a...

Company Settles Suit: Holiday Retreats Inc., a Costa Mesa company that sells memberships for its two campground sites in Riverside County, has settled a civil lawsuit filed against it by the state attorney general and the Orange County district attorney’s office.

A consent judgment--which avoids litigation against the company--and the civil suit were filed concurrently in Orange County Superior Court on May 15, the attorney general’s office announced Thursday.

The attorney general had received numerous consumer complaints regarding Holiday Retreats, prompting a two-year investigation of the company, said Jerry Smilowitz, a deputy attorney general in the Los Angeles office.

Holiday Retreats was charged last month with unlawful business practices and deceptive advertising. Under the consent judgment, the company agreed to make restitution payments to certain purchasers of campground memberships, as well as people who attended sales presentations but did not receive prizes as promised.