Conflict at Pierce County driving schools led to abrupt closures, lawsuit says
The owner of a Puget Sound driving school is suing its former general manager, accusing him of attempting to take over the company. That ex-manager denies the allegations.
In the meantime, the schools’ locations across the South Sound have closed.
Social media posts about Freedom Driving School started Tuesday with one person asking in a community Facebook group if anyone knew why the Puyallup-area location shut down.
The driving school has locations in Frederickson, South Hill, Lakewood, Spanaway, Auburn and Federal Way. The News Tribune reached out to the company and to the Washington State Department of Licensing Tuesday to get confirmation of the school closing its locations.
“We are aware something is going on with Freedom Driving School. We have reached out to the owners and asked for official notice for the status of their business operations. However, until we hear back or receive an official closure notice from the owners, we can’t comment further. Once we receive a response we will work with students and parents on next steps,” Christine Anthony, communications manager for the DOL, wrote via email Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the DOL confirmed the closures.
“DOL has received confirmation from the owners of Freedom Driving School that they are now closed. We will be performing a standard closing audit with their operations manager and hope to get as many copies of student records as possible. Once we have that information we can work with students and parents to find new driver training resources so they can complete their training,” Anthony wrote via email.
She added, “We ask that students and parents reach out to our Driver Training Program by email at tse@dol.wa.gov. Please note DOL cannot help facilitate refunds for payments already made to the school as it is a private business. We encourage those affected to reach out to your bank or credit card companies if possible.”
The mystery surrounding the closures unraveled after Anthony Brian Davenport, who owns the driving school with his brother, filed a lawsuit against general manager Bryon Cancil and Freedom Driving School, INC on Tuesday in Pierce County Superior Court. Davenport also requested a temporary restraining order to prevent Cancil from taking company property and assets and return property that Davenport alleges he took, according to the court documents. A judge granted Davenport’s request for the temporary restraining order Wednesday afternoon.
Documents show that Davenport alleges Cancil breached his contract, failed to account for all the company’s assets, used assets for personal use, and forged Davenport’s signature to open a new bank account for the business.
In his own court filing, Cancil denied those allegations. The News Tribune has reached out to the attorneys representing Cancil and Davenport for comment.
Davenport and his brother, Dana Davenport, each owned 50 out of the 100 shares of the company when it was formed in 2011, the lawsuit says. Dana Davenport assigned his shares to Anthony Davenport after a few years, documents show, and Cancil was in management discussions for the company.
“Because Mr. [Anthony] Davenport was running a separate business, at that time Mr. Davenport desired assistance in managing of Freedom Driving School. Mr. Cancil was eager to take on a management role at the School,” court documents say.
Cancil became general manager of the school in late 2022, according to the lawsuit. Davenport assigned a third of interest in the corporation to Cancil “to encourage Mr. Cancil’s commitment.” The school reportedly had about 25 employees with annual sales of about $1 million.
The lawsuit alleges that the business’ bank accounts were held at Heritage Bank in Lakewood and that Davenport was the sole signer. The bank accounts were closed in January 2024 and Cancil allegedly opened new accounts at America’s Credit Union. Cancil allegedly designated himself as the controlling signer and excluded Davenport, the lawsuit says.
Davenport alleged that he never agreed to switching bank accounts and that his signature was required for the changes. The lawsuit said Davenport’s signatures may have been forged on necessary documents and that a signature stamp that Cancil had was used.
“Since January 2024, Mr. Cancil has completely excluded Mr. Davenport from access to Freedom Driving School records, Freedom Driving School operational software, and Freedom Driving School bank accounts,” the lawsuit states. “Mr. Davenport has requested Freedom Driving School bank statements from January 2025, through the present in order to complete the federal tax return and perform an audit. Mr. Cancil refuses to provide these documents.”
The lawsuit says Cancil allegedly opened new driving school locations in Parkland and Auburn, but refused to provide details including a copy of the leases to Davenport. The lawsuit says a special shareholders meeting of the business was held on June 9 where Davenport tried to regain control of the business. Minutes from the meeting are attached to court documents, and show that resolutions were approved to remove Cancil from the board, as an officer of the business, and to instruct the board of directors to terminate his employment.
Davenport learned shortly after the June 9 meeting that Cancil allegedly transferred the title from all 12 Freedom Driving School vehicles into his own name and made copies of company records, the lawsuit says.
“Shortly following the June 9 Meeting, Mr. Cancil seized all School computers, student records, company records, employee data, and employee payroll records and removed them from the School premises. Therefore Mr. Davenport does not have access. The Washington State Department of Licensing, which regulates driving schools, has also demanded production of student records,” the lawsuit says.
Since the business does not have access to its vehicles, records, computers and funds, it cannot function, the lawsuit says.
“Mr. Cancil has breached his fiduciary duty as the purported officer or manager of the business, among other things, by unilaterally transferring assets without consent, by engaging in self-interested transactions, and by failing to fully and completely account for all of the assets,” according to the lawsuit.
The temporary restraining order Davenport’s attorneys requested prevents Cancil from removing any company business assets, records, computers and equipment until the case has concluded. It also orders the return of any previously taken assets from June 9, so the business can operate.
‘Simply untrue’
Cancil filed a declaration opposing the temporary restraining order motion Wednesday morning. He denied the majority of Davenport’s claims, court documents show.
“Mr. Davenport terminated me as an officer, director, and manager of FDS on June 9, 2026. ... majority shareholder Anthony Davenport overrode my minority vote,” Cancil wrote. “... it is my understanding that Anthony Davenport is now the sole director of FDS.”
Cancil’s declaration said the school had apparent cash flow constraints when he joined the company and frequently could not meet payroll or other expenses. He said he would personally loan the school money from time to time.
He denied taking school equipment such as computers, student and company records as well as employee documents. He also denied entering any offices belonging to the schools other than on June 18 to give the new manager paperwork.
Cancil’s declaration said that it is “simply untrue” that Davenport did not consent to opening an account at the America’s Credit Union. He alleged Davenport ignored that Heritage Bank closed the business’ accounts involuntarily. Cancil said Davenport authorized him to open the bank account without his name. He denied having a signature stamp for Davenport, and said he did not use one. He also said he did not open any new locations without Davenport’s consent.
“For example, though Davenport complains about the Auburn lease, he seems to have forgotten that he signed for that lease in 2022 along with his brother, Dana, and their signatures were notarized,” Cancil said in the court document.
Cancil said he has been cooperating with the transfer of accounts, “despite Mr. Davenport frustrating the process.” He said he reached out to the bank several times to request a transfer of account ownership, something he is eager to do.
“By terminating my authority to act on behalf of FDS, Mr. Davenport has put me in an impossible position. If I pay any business expenses, I am in direct violation of explicit instructions from the shareholders’ vote and the board of directors, and would be accused of acting without authority. Instead, as a reward for following the directive of the shareholders and board of directors, I am now being blamed for Mr. Davenport’s hasty, ill-considered attempt to shut me out of FDS as part of his minority shareholder pressure campaign,” documents show.
Cancil wrote that the school has already stopped its operations even though Davenport said in his lawsuit the business is in danger of irreparable harm. Cancil also said Davenport and the new manager messaged all employees telling them their last day was June 19 and shut down all locations the same day.
“I am not sure what ‘irreparable harm’ Mr. Davenport is hoping to avoid with a temporary restraining order, with Mr. Davenport having already shut down the business last week,” Cancil wrote.
A former administrative assistant and driving instructor both submitted statements to the court stating they were laid off June 19 by the current general manager, the same day they learned that the schools were shutting down.
The driving instructor shared a screenshot of the email in court documents where the current general manager said the schools had to close effective immediately.
“We were working to salvage these issues as fast as legally possible, but our options ran out. I appreciate the situation this puts most of you in more than you realize. This was never supposed to be, and it is unfortunate that this is the direction that has been forced upon us,” the email said, according to court records.
The former instructor also shared her own email sent to the current manager.
“What you need to understand is that the former GM cared about and put his heart and soul into FDS and the employees. He was very much hands-on with FDS at any time of the day or night. I’ve been there for 2 years and I have a great deal of respect for the former GM,” the email said.
Parents voice their confusion over the abrupt closures
Parents of students who were supposed to attend the school voiced their confusion over the sudden closures.
“My son was supposed to start lessons today. Their website is still up and allowing others to register. I asked ladies in the salon next door and they said they closed down last week and the employees had no idea,” Kelly Anderson, a parent of a student at the South Hill-area school, wrote in a comment June 23 on a community Facebook page for Puyallup, Graham and Spanaway residents.
Anderson told The News Tribune via Facebook Messenger that she paid $843.31 in full for her son’s lessons. She provided a screenshot of the message about the class cancellations, which said there was an abrupt CEO change with “unforeseen consequences leading to an abrupt shutdown of operations.”
The messages also said, “We have been directed via the current CEO/administrator to not comment on the situation as we have all been laid off.”
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