Didn't They See It Coming?

A television psychic hot line has been ordered to pay a $75,000 fine for violating Missouri's no-call law, the state attorney general said Wednesday.

The St. Louis City Circuit Court ordered the payment against Access Resources Services Inc., a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., company best-known for promoting Miss Cleo's tarot psychic reading.

"This order makes it clear that you can't violate the no-call law without repercussions," Attorney General Jay Nixon said. "Thanks to the Missouri consumers who are part of the no-call team and are letting us know when they're called by telemarketers, we're sending a strong message that violators will be pursued."

Speaking with a Caribbean accent, Miss Cleo appears in national television commercials promising insights into love, money and other personal matters.

The order came in a lawsuit against Access Resources that alleged 94 violations of the state's no-call law, which allows Missouri residents to sign up on a list that bars telemarketers from calling them. The company faced fines of up to $5,000 per violation if found liable for calling people who requested privacy.

Under the order, the company will obtain a copy of the state's no-call list and direct employees not to call those numbers. More than 800,000 phone numbers are on the list.

Joel Dichter, the attorney representing Access on the no-call lawsuit, said the settlement was a practical decision.

"It was a business matter, to get this behind us and get this resolved, even though it is our position there was no violation of the law," Dichter said.

A separate lawsuit filed in Jackson County alleging that the company committed fraud by billing Missourians for supposedly free services is pending. The company insists it did nothing wrong.

By Paul Sloca
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