Houston, January 6, 1998. The Amway Corporation, founders Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos, Amway icon Dexter Yager and others have been sued in Harris County District Court by a group of high-level distributors seeking damages in excess of $200 million. This filing marks the largest and most significant action by upper echelon Amway distributors in the history of the company.
Dr. Joseph Morrison, spokesman for the 29 complainants, said "This lawsuit has been filed because there is something rotten in the Amway organization. We have tried unsuccessfully to work out our complaint with Amway and others through the system, but it only gets worse. We had no choice but to take this step."
The petition cites fraud and misrepresentations, as well as intentional interference in the business of the group.
"It is truly ironic that we have found out the overriding principle this company has preached so hard--integrity--is the quality that has been largely absent in the past, bringing us to this stage," Morrison said.
The group has represented and been "upline" to as many as 40,000 or more different Amway businessmen and women, which has been regarded as one of the largest and most prolific in Amway history. Among the plaintiff's group is Morrison, a medical doctor, two other medical doctors, a chiropractor and other professionals. Many of these people had actually retired from their professions in order to pursue their Amway dream. They had achieved, in some instances, some of the highest achievement levels recognized in the Amway organization.
"We all thought that Amway was the key to our future, and the future of our families. We worked as hard as anyone, and did what we were told to help our business grow. In the end, though, we weren't ready to sacrifice our own integrity to enhance our business," Morrison said.
The extraordinary damages sought relate to the devastation of the businesses of the individual plaintiffs, and the business of their future generations. One member of the group was forced to take bankruptcy because of the conduct of the Amway defendants.
"We know this is a lot of money we are seeking," Morrison said. But what must be remembered is that many of us altered our careers, altered our lives because of this business and what had been told and sold to us."
"We all thought we were going to be living the American dream, if only we worked hard enough. What we found out is that if we allowed the wrong to continue, it would be really more the American nightmare."
For further information, contact:
Brock C. Akers
Phillips & Akers
(713) 552-0232 or home (713) 660-9433
This page was last updated on May-30-98
