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.

TEAM is already the subject of an August temporary restraining order that Quixtar claims it violated.

The final decision on the issues that prompted the restraining order will go before an arbitrator.

At issue is whether those distributors were using proprietary information they collected over the years as a support organization for as many as 100,000 Quixtar distributors to start a business that would compete with Quixtar. At least 16,000 of those distributors have left Quixtar.

The Ada-based company claimed the Louisville gathering was part of a bigger conspiracy to convince even more to leave.

Judge Sullivan was not convinced by the argument, noting the meeting was scheduled long before the split between Quixtar and the distributors occurred.

"For the 20,000 people who are going to Louisville, this is a huge victory on their part. We're very pleased," said Chris DeWitt, a spokesman for the former distributors.

Judge Sullivan held off ruling on the rest of the claim. But he did say the testimony led him to believe if there were violations of his earlier order, they were more technical in nature, not the result of witnesses lying on the stand.

A Quixtar spokesman says they're disappointed in the Louisville portion of the ruling, but convinced they'll prevail in the rest of the case.

"We believe the people involved in this business are building it on the backs of ours," said Alticor Spokesman Rob Zeiger. "And that's not right. That doesn't abide by the contract and that's one of the things were going to settle in arbitration."

There is no word on when the judge will release the rest of his decision.