I’ve been meaning for some time to write a blog post about the Amway/Quixtar class action settlement in the Pokorny, Blenn etal lawsuit in California. Back in November I reported that Amway had settled the case and even posted an apology of sorts on one of the Amway corporate blogs. Right from the beginning of the case it was my opinion that it was legally meritless. Amway’s problem is that the court has rejected private  arbitration as the solution, meaning the case could head to a public jury trial. No company likes either the cost, or publicity, that a lawsuit like this could bring, even if you believe you could win it.

So I wasn’t entirely surprised when they announced the settlement.

Having followed the case and retrieved related court documents, I was expecting my post today to be about how Quixtar IBOs from around 2003 until now would shortly be contacted with information on how they could request various refunds and other relief as a result of the class action settlement. I was having problems retrieving the last submitted court document though (from December 29, 2010) which I expected would have all the final details.

Needless to say, I was more than surprised to finally obtain it and discover the judge has rejected the settlement – and, in my opinion, in pretty scathing terms. I’ll post the document on Amway Wiki in the next few days so you can read it for yourself, but essentially you get the impression he feels the settlement was little more than what I think it was – a way out for the plaintiffs to pay their lawyers and for Amway to get the case to disappear. Many of the details he requests the plaintiffs supply are I think next to impossible to assess – for example asking how much BSM did IBOs who bought BSM buy.  I’ll post some more details and discussion on Amway Talk. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out!

UPDATE 2011-01-21: Cindy Droog from Amway Corp Communications has pointed out that the judge hasn’t actually rejected the settlement, he’s deferred a decision and requested more details. Next hearing is in April.

 UPDATE 2012-04-16: The settlement has now been approved, details at www.quixtarclass.com