Former customers and employees of the grounded airline that postponed plans to fly Marylanders between Baltimore and Ocean City for more than a year said they?ve yet to be paid for work or reimbursed for prepaid flight packages.
A small claims judge in Anne Arundel County awarded former Simmons Air customer Stacey Sanders $510 on Tuesday for flights she bought but couldn?t take when the company shut down in December. Company President Wayne Simmons assured her he would personally reimburse her in January, but Sanders said she never heard back.
Tuesday, Sanders won her money back by default when no one from the company showed to defend it against the charges.
“They?ve ignored me for an entire year, then don?t even have the courage to show up,” Sanders said. “This is the final straw.”
Several other people have filed suit against the company, according to state court records.
Jeff Zerhusen is one of four plaintiffs who have won judgments against Simmons Air, according to court records. The Salisbury University student worked behind the front desk booking reservations during the winter break last year.
He quickly logged 100 hours, but never saw a paycheck.
“They sent a bunch of e-mails saying the paychecks got held up and that we would get them the next week,” Zerhusen said. “It dragged on and on and on.”
Zerhusen said he and another co-worker, also a college student, were both awarded default judgments in court when no one from the company showed. In his case, Zerhusen said, the judge awarded him about $1,300.
At least two other contract cases against the company are pending, according to court records.
Simmons was supposed to begin $45 one-way flights between BWI and Ocean City?s municipal airport in September 2005. Two months later, the company contracted to provide the pilots and planes severed its ties with Wayne Simmons, reportedly after he allowed an employee to bring a loaded gun aboard the plane.
Simmons said he lost money paying out-of-pocket for chartered flights and overnight accommodations for stranded passengers until he ceased all operations in December 2005.
Negotiations with a new partner, Massachusetts-based Cape Air, collapsed earlier this year when the latter halted “talks” until September as they focused on the summer season.
Simmons also did not return a phone call. Annapolis attorney Daniel Mellin, who resigned as the company?s resident agent in May, declined to comment.
