Talks may resolve AMP court case in Minnesota

OREM, Utah—AMP Alarm, a summer-model company based here, is planning to enter mediation talks with the state of Minnesota regarding a lawsuit that state's attorney general filed this spring, charging it with deceptive sales practices.

AMP attorney Hal Reiser stressed the settlement talks are not an admission by the company to the charges in the lawsuit.

“We've defended and continue to defend and deny the allegations by the Minnesota attorney general,” Reiser said in a Nov. 3 interview.

However, he said, the judge in charge of the case has encouraged both parties to go to mediation. “We're willing to discuss resolutions,” Reiser said.

He said a mediator has been selected, and April 2011 has been set as the date for any mediation to be finalized.

In another matter in Minnesota, AMP recently agreed to a consent order with the Minnesota Commissioner of Labor and Industry to settle licensing and registration complaints by that state.

In that order, signed by the commissioner and AMP in late September, AMP paid the state $15,000 and agreed not to conduct any sales in Minnesota for at least three years.

The company is allowed to continue servicing its approximately 3,500 existing customers in Minnesota, which Reiser said the company insisted upon because it is committed to customer service and wanted to serve its clients without interruption.

Charles Durenberger, enforcement services manager at the state Department of Labor and Industry, said in an email interview the state charged AMP with using installers who were not licensed as power-limited technicians. He said the state also found that AMP “performed a small number of installations that did not comply with the National Electric Code.” AMP expressly denied the state's allegations in the consent order, Durenberger noted.

Reiser described the state's concerns as administrative matters AMP took steps to address.

AMP technicians installing alarm systems had to be registered with the state, “and during the summer of 2009, the registration was not completed,” Reiser said. “We completed the registration, paid the fees, and resolved the issue of former non-compliance by the consent order.”

The order allows AMP to apply for licensure in Minnesota after three years. But Reiser said the company probably won't apply because it has already turned its focus to other states. Wherever AMP does business, Reiser said, the company is “anxious to comply with any registration, licensing or other laws.”