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by on November 3, 2010 8 Comments

Amway Settles Multiple Disputes

The weather is cooler, the leaves are falling, the holidays are drawing near….peace is in the air. In the span of a few days, Amway has made two HUGE announcements about the settlements of pending lawsuits between itself and multiple parties. First, they announced the settlement between themselves and MonaVie, which was anticipated to be an epic battle between the MLM giants. Click Amway v. MonaVie to read the original complaint. In the lawsuit, Amway alleged MonaVie was using unfair marketing practices while raiding Amway’s downline.

In the same announcement, Amway announced a settlement with Orrin Woodward and TEAM. The Amway / Woodward / Team litigation has been insanely intense since August of 2007. I was there for the start and I’m certain there’s much relief on both sides as a result of the settlement. The Amway / Woodward litigation produced a cutting edge court opinion about the limits of First Amendment protection for anonymous bloggers that disparage a company. Click here for the opinion.

Second, Amway announced today of its settlement of the Pokorny class action lawsuit. News of this settlement is not really surprising given Amway’s loss over its arbitration provision back in April of 2010. This was a very contentious case and Amway’s exposure was substantial. Due to the size of this settlement, I anticipate more lawsuits like Pokorny will be filed against other MLMs that rely heavily on tool companies. It’s ok to work with tool companies; however, when the tail starts wagging the dog, it can lead to HUGE, Pokorny-like problems.

The past few years have been busy for Amway as they’ve made some efforts to clean up their house. They’ve lowered prices, implemented quality control standards for the tool companies, invested more in IBO training and….settled their lawsuits.

The real losers as a result of these settlements…..THE LAWYERS.

What do you think about this news of the settlements?

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  • http://aen.myopenid.com/ Rykel

    Hi Kevin, Rykel here! Can you remember who I am? Yeah, the chap from Singapore! I was reading your post soberly when, upon perusal of your last statement, I could not help but burst out laughing! (“The real losers as a result of these settlements…..THE LAWYERS.”) hahaha you really made my day with your sense of humour! Anyway, I hope all is well with you and do send my regards to Captain Bob! Cheers, Rykel

    • http://www.themlmattorney.com/about Kevin Thompson

      Rykel, long time, no message. I hope you’re well. Glad you liked the joke. As you know, the best jokes have a little truth to them;) I saw Captain Bob this past weekend. I’ll send him a message. Take it easy.

  • http://www.facebook.com/david.steadson David Steadson

    I don’t feel toooo sad for the poor lawyers … $20million of the $55million settlement is reserved for plaintiffs legal fees! Do the math and it looks like this settlement has saved Amway a lot of money. The $100million injunctive relief is all stuff they were doing anyway

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  • Dholdefer

    How does a person join in the class action suit and get some money back from the AMWAY settlement??

    • http://www.themlmattorney.com Kevin Thompson

      I’m not sure. I would think that you would receive a claims request form in the mail and you’ll need to document some of your experiences to qualify for a piece of the reward. I wish I could help more. Usually, there’s a website that gets published soon after the settlement. Once it’s final, I’m sure it’ll be easy for you to learn how to participate. Take care.

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