Thursday, October 18, 2007
By Chris Knape, The Grand Rapids Press
Source: MLive
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GRAND RAPIDS -- Quixtar argued Wednesday that former distributors were in contempt of a court order forbidding them from disparaging the firm or using information gleaned from their company affiliation.
Alticor Inc.'s Quixtar wants Kent County Circuit Judge Paul Sullivan to rule the former distributors, operating as independent business owners, are in contempt of the preliminary injunction he issued in August.
In that ruling, he forbid the TEAM business sales organization and its leaders from, among other things, using their former Quixtar networks to disseminate information that could harm Quixtar.
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By JOE LaFURGEY
Oct. 17, 2007
WoodTV GRAND RAPIDS -- A group of former Quixtar distributors will get to party in Louisville this weekend. This after Quixtar, the e-commerce arm of Alticor, tried to convince a judge that the former distributors were in contempt of court. Three days of testimony wrapped up just after 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Kent County Courthouse in downtown Grand Rapids. In the end, it was at least a partial victory for some former distributors involved in a bitter divorce from Quixtar. Judge Paul Sullivan told the former distributors he would not issue an injunction to stop a large meeting of Quixtar distributors scheduled for Louisville this weekend. The gathering is an event for TEAM, the sales training and support company started by two former Quixtar distributors.
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By Shanthal Perera
September 19, 2007
WSU (Winona State University) Winonan
It's no shock that a public university is open for business.
Within the first few weeks of the semester at Winona State University, Kryzsko Commons and the surrounding area were bombarded with banks trying to set up student accounts, phone and cable companies targeting future business and wall poster sales that decorated the courtyard.
Some businesses, however, students should be wary about, as they may be structured illegally into what's called a pyramid scheme.
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Shughart's Poyfair Arguing For Restraining Order
Law Week Colorado
By Don Knox
Week of September 3, 2007
DENVER — An attorney in the Denver office of Shughart Thomson & Kilroy is lead trial counsel in a noisy and potentially pivotal case that pits multi-level marketing giant Amway Corp. against 15 of its biggest independent distributors.
Next week, the attorney, D.J. Poyfair, will argue at a preliminary injunction hearing in Los Angeles something that's periodically been said about Amway and many other MLM companies – that they are essentially Ponzi schemes where old distributors make money not by selling goods but by recruiting new distributors.
“The complaint alleges that Amway has knowingly operated a pyramid scheme for a number of years, and it fails to disclose that fact to the public at large and to its own distributors,†said Poyfair, reached last week at his Denver office.
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Tonya Garcia
PR Week USA
Aug 31 2007
DENVER: Quixtar and a group of 15 distributors have taken to trading barbs online as they await the latter groups' lawsuit, alleging that Quixtar knowingly operates as a pyramid scheme, to go to trial.
The plaintiffs are seeking a nullification of their contracts. A focus of the lawsuit is the non-competition agreement included in the contracts. Hearings are set to begin on September 12.
The action filed in California on August 9 alleges not only that Quixtar is a pyramid scheme, but that the owners have acknowledged as much over the last few years, but concealed it from the independent business owners [IBOs] and the public,†said DJ Poyfair, the attorney from Shughart, Thomson, & Kilroy who is representing the plaintiffs. A lot of these IBOs are people who need the monthly income and would like to move to another company. It's this economic peril that Quixtar intended to impose on IBOs who dared to quit. Non-competitions are common in many industries, but I'm not familiar with one that is designed to trap independent business owners in a pyramid scheme,†Poyfair added.
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By Joe LaFurgey
www.woodtv.com
August 23, 2007 GRAND RAPIDS - Judge Paul Sullivan heard lawyers for both Quixtar and some distributors argue for restraining orders against each other - and will rule Friday.
He'll rule on three of four lawsuits involving Quixtar's business model. Quixtar is the online arm of Alticor.
Quixtar wants to prevent these 15 distributors from using proprietary information and to sign a loyalty (of sorts) agreement. The distributors group wants the judge to prevent Quixtar from enforcing those policies.
24 Hour News 8 will report the decision as soon as it's handed down. |
By Chris Knape and Shandra Martinez
Grand Rapids Press
August 23, 2007
GRAND RAPIDS -- In the war over the future of Amway Corp., Kent County Circuit Judge Paul Sullivan's courtroom is where the first battle will be decided.
Arguments were expected to continue this morning in lawsuits filed to keep several former distributors for Quixtar, the name for Alticor Inc.'s Amway business in the United States, from disclosing confidential information as part of what the company and a distributors' association claim is a smear campaign.
Ada Township-based Alticor and the Independent Business Owners International Association filed suit to prevent former high-profile distributors Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady, among others, from releasing information they say could cause irreparable harm to Quixtar and other distributors, known as IBOs.
Sullivan heard arguments for more than three hours Wednesday afternoon.
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By Staff
WXMI.com
August 22, 2007
GRAND RAPIDS Arguments continue in a Kent County court Thursday as Quixtar executives try to keep company information confidential.
The judge heard three hours of oral arguments again Wednesday from both Quixtar attorneys and the attorneys representing a group of distributors. Those distributors are asking for a temporary restraining order to stop Quixtar from firing them and anyone aligned with them.
It's part of a larger battle that's playing out in federal court between some prominent IBO's accused of violating Quixtar rules by using un-authorized training materials and teachings.
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The Grand Rapids Press
August 22, 2007
GRAND RAPIDS -- Arguments were to continue Thursday in lawsuits filed in an effort to keep Quixtar distributors from disclosing confidential information in what Quixtar and a distributors' association say is a smear campaign.
Kent County Circuit Judge Paul Sullivan heard arguments for more than three hours today in cases Alticor, Quixtar's parent, and the Independent Business Owners International Association filed.
They are seeking to prevent former high-profile distributors Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady, among others, from releasing information they say could cause irreparable harm to Quixtar and other distributors, known as IBOs.
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By JOE LaFURGEY
www.woodtv.com
Aug 22, 2007
GRAND RAPIDS -- The battle between Quixtar, Ada-based Alticor's online sales arm, and a group of distributors who want to break away and continue their own sales marketing business took center stage in a Grand Rapids courtroom Wednesday.
But not all the action's in the courtroom.
Minutes before the hearing, dozens of men and women, most of them wearing white shirts, lined up on the courthouse steps. All of them had the same thing to say when approached by 24 Hour News 8: "No comment."
The only clue to their part in this case where buttons they wore on their chest: I Was Burned By Quixtar.
Their silence remained a mystery. But court documents we obtained do speak.
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By Barton Deiters
The Grand Rapids Press
August 21, 2007
GRAND RAPIDS -- Sporting dark suits, red ties and stickers stating "I got burned," a throng of Quixtar distributors gathered outside the downtown courthouse in the pouring rain.
But after 2 1/2 hours of negotiations in the 10th floor chambers of Circuit Court Judge Paul Sullivan on Monday, the only thing the silent protesters got was a hefty dry cleaning bill.
Lawyers emerged from the chambers and announced in a jointly written statement that Sullivan had made no ruling on the request and Quixtar would take no action until after a hearing scheduled before Sullivan on Wednesday. Essentially, a two-day truce.
A group of so-called independent business operators, known as IBOs, who distribute Amway goods filed a request for a temporary restraining order to keep the company from essentially firing them as of 5 p.m. Monday.
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By PATRICK CENTER
www.woodtv.com
GRAND RAPIDS - A class action lawsuit filed last week in California made its way to the Kent County courthouse, and involves one of Alticor's companies.
Eight Michigan plaintiffs named in the lawsuit requested a temporary restraining order against Quixtar, the e-commerce arm of Alticor. It's a dispute between Quixtar and its independent business owners (IBOs.)
At the Kent County Courthouse, hundreds of people in dark suits and red ties stood in silent solidarity -- but with whom they were in solidarity is undetermined. None of them would speak on- or off-camera with 24 Hour News 8.
Using a multi-level marketing plan, IBOs purchase and sell Quixtar wholesale products and turn a profit at a retail price. They recruit and enlist new IBOs for "down-the-line sales."
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By Tyler Lecceadone
WZZM13.com (8/20/07)
Grand Rapids - Several Quixtar Independent Business Operators from around the state of Michigan assembled outside the Kent County Courthouse Monday afternoon.
No ruling, but in a brief statement lawyers from both sides agreed, Quixtar will not take action until a hearing Wednesday.
The group is protesting a recent decision by Quixtar, whose parent company is Alticor, to terminate 15 independent business operators last week. The company claims that the independent distributors actions were detrimental to the company's operations.
Alticor had given the group until 5pm today to disassociate themselves in anyway from the 15 banned distributors.
A joint statement, read by Quixtar attorney Ed Bardelli, said Quixtar as agreed not to take any action pending the outcome of Wednesday's hearing. It went on to say:"It should be clear that this matter has been rescheduled and neither side is waiving any rights or arguments relating to the merits of this lawsuit."
The 200 or so IBO's who assembled outside the courthouse feared they would lose their livelihoods by the end of business today. Today's ruling means they will keep their relationship with Quixtar - at least through Wednesday.
A pair of websites offer differing views on the situation. Alticor offers this: http://media.alticorblogs.com/, while the IBO's suing the company have this: http://www.freetheibo.com/home.html. |
By David DeKok
The Patriot-News
Thursday, August 16, 2007
A Denver law firm says the withdrawal of a Lower Paxton Twp. Quixtar Inc. distributor as a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed last week against the multilevel marketing firm over its business practices came as a surprise.
Fred Harteis, president of Harteis International at 7955 Jonestown Road, has been a top distributor for Quixtar or its better-known corporate cousin Amway Corp. of Ada, Mich., for many years. Alticor Inc. is the parent company of both firms.
"Fred Harteis was involved in many conversations with us in the previous weeks concerning the state of the current Quixtar business, the pricing of its products and Quixtar's coming transformation," attorney D.J. Poyfair said on behalf of the firm Shughart, Thomson & Kilroy.
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By David DeKok
The Patriot-News
August 15, 2007
A Lower Paxton Twp. man says his inclusion as a plaintiff in a lawsuit against multilevel marketing firm Quixtar Inc. was "an error," and he has been removed from the legal action.
Fred Harteis, president of Harteis International at 7955 Jonestown Road, said yesterday through a spokeswoman that he remains a distributor for Quixtar, a corporate cousin of the better-known Amway Corp. of Ada, Mich.
The lawsuit contends that Quixtar is an illegal pyramid scheme, violating rules set by the Federal Trade Commission after previous litigation involving Amway.
The suit also claims that Quixtar products are overpriced and nearly unsalable, and that Quixtar mainly benefits the DeVos and VanAndel families in Michigan who own the company.
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Datamonitor NewsWire
By Staff
August 15, 2007
HIGHLIGHT: Quixtar, an e-tailer and direct seller, has announced the termination of 15 independent businesses as a result of actions detrimental to the company's North American operations.
The businesses affected were part of the Team training organization or other training organizations using Team's training materials and named as co-plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by Team's founders against Quixtar.
Quixtar was working with Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady, founders of the Team training organization, to correct issues related to Team's teaching of inappropriate business-building tactics, improper positioning of the opportunity, and use of unauthorized support materials. These teachings placed themselves, affiliated Independent Business Owners (IBOs), and Quixtar at serious and immediate risk of legal and regulatory actions and had to be stopped, according to the company.
Mr Woodward and Mr Brady refused to work with the company to return Team to compliance with Quixtar's rules, stated their intentions of starting a new company in competition with Quixtar, and filed a lawsuit against the company seeking relief from their non-compete requirements.
Due to their refusal to correct their business practices, Quixtar terminated the independent businesses of Mr Woodward and Mr Brady as well as those who joined them as plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit, filed in a California district court. A temporary restraining order and preliminary order of injunction was sought by the company and granted in a Michigan district court, preventing Mr Woodward and Mr Brady from interfering with the Quixtar Line of Sponsorship (LOS), soliciting IBOs for another business opportunity, disparaging Quixtar and damaging its reputation, and requiring them to return to Quixtar its proprietary and confidential LOS data. |
By Chris Knape
The Grand Rapids Press
August 13, 2007
A group of prominent Quixtar distributors is suing the direct sales giant, alleging the company is little more than a pyramid scheme with overpriced products.
The suit came after Quixtar fired 15 influential distributors last week because their business practices were "some of the worst of what our critics say about our business," spokesman Rob Zeiger said.
Quixtar also said the distributors told officials they planned to start their own multilevel marketing business.
The allegations from both sides give a glimpse into the internal struggle taking place as Alticor tries to clean up a business it now admits was facing major problems.
D.J. Poyfair, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said their distribution networks make up about 40 percent of Quixtar's $1.1 billion in annual sales.
But Zeiger said the sales lines of those involved in the suit represent only 15 percent of Quixtar sales.
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By Staff
The Denver Post
August 13, 2007
More than a dozen longtime associates of Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Quixtar Inc. sued the firm in California federal court last week alleging they'd been harnessed into a pyramid scheme and want out.
Represented by Shughart, Thomson & Kilroy in Denver, the 15 independent business owners of Quixtar say the products they are to sell - personal health and hygiene items - are so overpriced they can't be marketed in retail outlets. As a result, they're forced to buy the items themselves to qualify for bonuses.
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