P&G v. Amway
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
Houston district court orders Procter & Gamble to pay approximately $500,000 in Amway's legal fees and costs following dismissal of the company's suit charging Amway distributors with defamation; P&G said the employees repeated rumors that Procter & Gamble supports the Church of Satan. A similar case in Utah was dismissed in March, with P&G ordered to pay fines to Amway for bad faith litigation (1"The Rose Sheet" April 5, 1999, In Brief). According to Amway, "in 1995, a few distributors learned of the rumor" falsely linking P&G to Satanism "and innocently repeated it to one another because they believed it was true." P&G, Amway continues, "ignored that the rumor had been started 15 years earlier by others and that for years Amway had tried to help P&G squelch" the story. A separate suit filed by Amway in a Michigan court charging P&G with spreading damaging rumors is ongoing (2"The Rose Sheet" April 19, 1999, In Brief)
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P&G prevails in Utah
Procter & Gamble indicates that it will continue to "take appropriate legal measures when competitors unfairly undermine the reputation of [its] brands or [the] company" in March 19 release announcing its legal victory over four Amway distributors in Salt Lake City federal district court. The jury awarded P&G $19.25 mil. in the suit, which revolved around the company's allegation that Amway employees perpetuated rumors suggesting ties between P&G and the Church of Satan. P&G previously had less success with its defamation charges, at least twice having been ordered to recompense Amway for its troubles following the suit's dismissal (1"The Rose Sheet" Jan. 10, 2000, In Brief)...
P&G prevails in Utah
Procter & Gamble indicates that it will continue to "take appropriate legal measures when competitors unfairly undermine the reputation of [its] brands or [the] company" in March 19 release announcing its legal victory over four Amway distributors in Salt Lake City federal district court. The jury awarded P&G $19.25 mil. in the suit, which revolved around the company's allegation that Amway employees perpetuated rumors suggesting ties between P&G and the Church of Satan. P&G previously had less success with its defamation charges, at least twice having been ordered to recompense Amway for its troubles following the suit's dismissal (1"The Rose Sheet" Jan. 10, 2000, In Brief)...
Amway
Amends existing suit against Procter & Gamble charging the company "provided assistance" to Sidney Schwartz, creator of a "negative Web site" designed to "damage or destroy Amway's business through the Internet." Ada, Mich.-based Amway filed the complaint in federal court in Grand Rapids, Mich. April 14. Amway claims it discovered P&G's support of the "Web-based smear campaign" during its defense against a suit that charged Amway with associating P&G and Satanism. That suit was dismissed in Salt Lake City Utah federal court March 29 ("The Rose Sheet" April 5, In Brief)