August 24, 2000. A Denver appeals court has sent the P&G v Amway case in Utah back to the lower court, saying the lower court had made a mistake when it dismissed the suit. The lower court had dismissed the case last year, deciding, among other things, that the Lanham Act and Utah's business interference law were not involved. The appeals court disagreed, and the case will be returned to Utah for further proceedings. When P&G proceeds, however, Amway Corp. will not be one of the defendants. The appeals court decided that Amway was not legally culpable.

The original case was brought by Procter & Gamble after Diamond Randy Haugen disseminated a voice mail message through Amway's "Amvox" system, falsely claiming that P&G had ties to Satanism. The voicemail went out to thousands of distributors.

The rumor has plagued P&G for years. I first heard it in the early 1980s when it was circulating through the AMO that I was part of.

Amway's legal spokesman, Mike Mohr, claimed that "the court's ruling is a decisive victory for Amway."

Procter & Gamble said it was pleased that the appeals court allowed it to pursue its case against the Haugens and other distributors who passed along the voicemail messages. Linda Ulrey, a spokeswoman for P&G, told the Salt Lake Tribune:

"We are certainly pleased with the ruling and we believe our case will prevail when it is heard in the courts of Utah."

P&G v Amway in Texas

More About Amway and P&G