A Utah health and home product company has agreed to pay $1.2 million to its Idaho Falls-based rival to settle a lawsuit over allegations it poached employees and urged them to breach contracts.
Max International in Salt Lake City was sued by Idaho’s Melaleuca in fall 2009, who contended the Utah company raided its marketing executives and then conspired to have those former workers breach their contracts with the company by recruiting other sales people.
Melaleuca sells about 350 nutritional and household products including lotions, detergents and powdered drinks. Max International sells similar products and uses a similar business model.
The settlement was reported by a story published Sunday in the Post Register.
“Our actions here were vindicated, and the outcome says the actions we tried to seek against Max International were finally realized,” Melaleuca President McKay Christensen told the newspaper. “We think Max took the right actions here in settling the case, and we’re pleased to have a positive outcome.”
Max co-CEOs, Joseph Voyticky and David Bagley, apologized to the Idaho company, saying it “deeply regrets any actions, if any, by its officers, employees or associates that contributed to any contract violations by former Melaleuca (sales agents).”
Read more at the Washington Examiner.
Good! At last! It is all water under the bridge! Now what has Melaleuca gained with this…? Anyone…? If you said credibility… wrong! The fact of the matter is that one Network Marketing going after another’s cash is bad business for the entire Industry. So a new company lured some of your associates away from you? Maybe if you had a better comp plan, your associates wouldn’t be looking elsewhere!