Million Dollar Lawsuit against Ty Tribble and Bo Short

Just found a Million Dollar Lawsuit against Ty Tribble, Bo Short and Chris Cucchiara amongst others.

Having grown up in a family primarily composed of attorneys I find the legal field genuinely interesting especially within the MLM industry. I often also find myself privy to recent and upcoming lawsuits within the industry as evidenced by the following example.

The Plaintiff Max International seems intent on flexing its legal muscles with a complaint for equitable relief in the amount of $1,000,000.00 to be paid by the defendants Bo Short, Ty Tribble, Chris Cucchiara, Gary Fink M.D., Dan Worley, Tom Wilson DC and CCPM Enterprises LLC (an apparent business identity of some of the individuals)

I will post the official court docket at the end of the thread but let me first summarize its contents.

The lawsuit is over cross-recruiting with $1,000,000.00 worth of damages.

Apparently Ty Tribble, Bo Short and Chris Cucchiara were determined to replace current Master Distributors of Max International Ken Dunn and Bill Andersen and when they were denied this position they tried to solicit illegally obtained contacts into a new company. The events are outlined below.

Apparently Ty Tribble, Bo Short and Chris Cucchiara secretly planned to take over the Master Distributor positions at Max International by pressure and by trying to gather support within its distributor base. Apparently the three used a "Momentum Tour" intended to generate momentum for the company to build their own momentum in taking over the top positions or cross-sponsoring distributors out of Max International. During the Momentum Tour (in which the three were apparently paid to participate in) they gathered and collected contact information of distributors and potential customers at the events they attended. Their list was also bolstered by the attempt and apparent success of collecting their downlines contact information through a public Max Team Website and their influence as Advisory Council Members. During the Momentum Tour the three called for an immediate removal of the current Master Distributors and the replacement of Ty Tribble, Bo Short and Chris Cucchiara at the top of the organization. Chris Cucchiara apparently requested that his position within the backoffice be greyed out to prevent the Master Distributors from seeing his activities. He also asked that his position be artificially promoted to a higher rank to validate the alleged claims of expertise within the MLM industry.

They apparently used their position on the advisory council to bolster their own image at Max's Convention and even flew principals of Eiro Research (a new MLM company) out to attend the convention and ultimately observe the three. After the convention the three demanded that they take over the position of Master Distributors and when Max International Management failed to comply a email blast was sent out to the contacts they had gathered from the "Momentum Tour" and convention break out sessions as well as posted on their team Max International website. The email is listed below (I have omitted contact information)

"(W)e were approached and asked if we were open to discussing an opportunity to serve as Founding Parners for a new company and build the team of field Associates. Following extensive
investigation and discussions the decision became very easy. The most important aspect of our decision-making process was the knowledge that our friends/teamates had an unprecedented
opportunity to win in an environment conducive to long-term growth. . . . We look forward to speaking with you about the futue. Please feel free to email any of us at boshort(__________
or ___________) tytribble (___________ or _____________)
chris.cucchiara(_____________ or ______________) , We appreciate each
and every one of you and value you tremendously. We look forward to speaking with you and sharing our enthusiasm about the future and how good decisions can positively impact many people very quickly."

The email of course was not restricted to their personally sponsored individuals but rather the contacts they had gathered through their position within Max International.

After reading the docket I stumbled upon this blog entry where apparently Bo Short (although Ty Tribble is mentioned as well) had been involved in similar activities at Quixtar.
You can read the thread here

http://qrush_quixtar_blog.blogspot.com/2004/09/quixtar-qrush-provides-bo-short.html

An additional instance outside of the quixtar incident of cross-sponsoring is inferred within the thread although the company name is not mentioned.

CONCLUSION:
Max International seems intent to use its large financial resources to fight Bo Short, Ty Tribble and Chris Cucchiara tooth and nail in the resolution of this matter (as most large network marketing companies seem to do). To a certain degree I must admit I give props to the three for instituting the "Quadruple Dip" as I am calling it. Being paid out by the compensation plan, cross-recruiting on a company paid tour (outside of their commissions), using a team site to collect downline contacts and soliciting various company boards. If nothing else you have to admire the ingenuity of the three, despite its deceptive illegal nature. Of course this type of behavior reflects poorly on the industry and is one of the many reasons MLM is given such a bad name.

I tried to find some more information on Eiro Research (the company they solicited membership in) but was disappointed to find such limited information and another "drink" product. Obviously a new company, I can't help but think that the number of lawsuits and possible payouts against their new Master Distributors to be difficult starting point in a already difficult industry. I will however completely support the trademark or even registration of the phrase, "Quadruple Dip" to Ty Tribble, Bo Short or Chris Cucchiara, ingenius. :) The complete court docket can be found here.

http://docs.google.com/gview?attid=0.1&thid=11e85efc3c67043b&a=v&pli=1