Federal Judge Dismisses Fraud Claims Against Tax Prep Franchisor, Subsidiary

Mealey's (October 27, 2017, 1:53 PM EDT) -- LOS ANGELES — A consumer who claims that a tax preparation company, its franchisee and other entities manipulated tax returns and submitted them to the Internal Revenue Service without tax payers’ consent failed to sufficiently plead agency or fraud by the franchisor and its subsidiary, a California federal judge ruled Oct. 19, granting the plaintiff leave to amend (Luis Lomeli, et al. v. Jackson Hewitt, Inc., et al., No. 17-2899, C.D. Calif., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174451)....