The owners of Hague Quality Water of the Ozarks under a consent judgment obtained by Attorney General Jay Nixon will pay 11 consumers from the Springfield and Joplin areas a total of $31,300 in restitution. In November 2004 Nixon sued the company that has offices at 2914 E. 32nd St., Joplin and in Republic for repeatedly violating Missouri's consumer protection laws in the sale of its water systems. The order was signed by Greene County Circuit Judge Dan Conklin.

The lawsuit alleged that representatives of Hague falsely promised consumers that the water treatment system they were marketing would improve their family's health, save water and give them other benefits--misrepresentations that violate Missouri law. Defendants in the lawsuit were K&H Mitchell Inc., doing business as Hague Quality Water of the Ozarks and its owners Heather Mitchell of Republic and Keith Mitchell of Springfield. Hague previously had an office in Columbia, MO.

Defendant Heather Mitchell has been permanently enjoined from ever operating, owning or managing a business of any sort in Missouri.

In addition to false claims that the Hague water treatment system, which cost several thousand dollars, would alleviate substances in the water hazardous to the consumers' health and deceptive practices involving financing, Hague failed to comply with Missouri's law that buyers must be notified that they have a right to cancel any contracts within a three-day period.

The announcement was made in an attorney general's news release dated July 27, 2006.

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