Re: Swami Juice (Zrii)
Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:06 pm
The legal types on this forum will probably appreciate the latest legal maneuvers by Farley.
Zrii owner fighting back
Conspiracy » Lawsuit claims Utahns part of plan to ruin company.
The owner of the network marketer Zrii LLC has lashed out with a scatter-gun legal strategy against former employees and distributors who left the company or were terminated after a failed bid to buy the company amid allegations of gross mismanagement.
Zrii has filed three lawsuits -- in Utah, Delaware and California -- against 56 people outlining what owner and CEO Bill Farley claims was a broad conspiracy to either buy the company on the cheap or ruin it. Farley also is alleging that a competing California-based multilevel marketer of nutritional supplements, LifeVantage, was part of the conspiracy.
A lawsuit filed in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City names 49 former employees who resigned after the executive management team and top distributors were unsuccessful in trying to force out Farley and buy the company from him. Since then, others resigned or were terminated by Farley. Some who resigned have filed claims with the Utah Labor Commission, alleging Farley had not paid them for bonuses or unpaid leave when they left.
Brent Asay of the commission confirmed that his agency is investigating the claims.
The lawsuit asserts that those being sued in Utah "have made improper demands ... with the Utah Labor Commission."
Farley and his attorneys declined comment on the lawsuits and the legal strategies behind them.
The three lawsuits also mean that Zrii is facing legal bills for at least three teams of lawyers at
a time when the former executive management team says the company is strapped for cash.
Things blew up at Zrii on Feb. 2 when top managers and distributors presented Farley with letters demanding his resignation. They accused him of bringing the company to the brink of failure by taking personal loans on Zrii funds, using company funds for personal expenses, failing to pay vendors and for an arrogant style that alienated employees. They also claimed that Zrii, on Farley's orders, failed to pay sales taxes in various states.
In the lawsuit filed in California, Zrii alleges LifeVantage schemed to bring Zrii distributors over to that competitor.
Both companies engage in multilevel marketing, also known as direct marketing, in which distributors recruit other distributors, then get a commission on each sale to their chains of "downlines."
In mid-February, LifeVantage announced that several top former Zrii executives and distributors had joined that company. Zrii is asking for at least $75 million, saying the California company was touting its poaching of distributors in order to inflate its stock price.
"LifeVantage believes the recent lawsuit filed by Zrii Inc. is baseless and without merit and was filed in an attempt to interfere with LifeVantage's business, as well as to intimidate our independent distributors," spokesperson Jan Strode said in an e-mail. "We had no contact with any former Zrii distributor or employee until it was well-known that these individuals were either terminated by Zrii or decided to leave the company."
In Delaware, the Zrii lawsuit names former top managers and distributors, accusing them of "plotting a scheme to take control of the company through illegal and deceptive means," according to a company news release.
Zrii owner fighting back
Conspiracy » Lawsuit claims Utahns part of plan to ruin company.
The owner of the network marketer Zrii LLC has lashed out with a scatter-gun legal strategy against former employees and distributors who left the company or were terminated after a failed bid to buy the company amid allegations of gross mismanagement.
Zrii has filed three lawsuits -- in Utah, Delaware and California -- against 56 people outlining what owner and CEO Bill Farley claims was a broad conspiracy to either buy the company on the cheap or ruin it. Farley also is alleging that a competing California-based multilevel marketer of nutritional supplements, LifeVantage, was part of the conspiracy.
A lawsuit filed in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City names 49 former employees who resigned after the executive management team and top distributors were unsuccessful in trying to force out Farley and buy the company from him. Since then, others resigned or were terminated by Farley. Some who resigned have filed claims with the Utah Labor Commission, alleging Farley had not paid them for bonuses or unpaid leave when they left.
Brent Asay of the commission confirmed that his agency is investigating the claims.
The lawsuit asserts that those being sued in Utah "have made improper demands ... with the Utah Labor Commission."
Farley and his attorneys declined comment on the lawsuits and the legal strategies behind them.
The three lawsuits also mean that Zrii is facing legal bills for at least three teams of lawyers at
a time when the former executive management team says the company is strapped for cash.
Things blew up at Zrii on Feb. 2 when top managers and distributors presented Farley with letters demanding his resignation. They accused him of bringing the company to the brink of failure by taking personal loans on Zrii funds, using company funds for personal expenses, failing to pay vendors and for an arrogant style that alienated employees. They also claimed that Zrii, on Farley's orders, failed to pay sales taxes in various states.
In the lawsuit filed in California, Zrii alleges LifeVantage schemed to bring Zrii distributors over to that competitor.
Both companies engage in multilevel marketing, also known as direct marketing, in which distributors recruit other distributors, then get a commission on each sale to their chains of "downlines."
In mid-February, LifeVantage announced that several top former Zrii executives and distributors had joined that company. Zrii is asking for at least $75 million, saying the California company was touting its poaching of distributors in order to inflate its stock price.
"LifeVantage believes the recent lawsuit filed by Zrii Inc. is baseless and without merit and was filed in an attempt to interfere with LifeVantage's business, as well as to intimidate our independent distributors," spokesperson Jan Strode said in an e-mail. "We had no contact with any former Zrii distributor or employee until it was well-known that these individuals were either terminated by Zrii or decided to leave the company."
In Delaware, the Zrii lawsuit names former top managers and distributors, accusing them of "plotting a scheme to take control of the company through illegal and deceptive means," according to a company news release.