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Britt and Co. in Court again
"In financial planning you trust no one. In Amway you trust everyone"
John Sestina- Quixtar Executive Diamond and CFP
Surfing on Pacer, the Federal courts database, I found this case pdf_icon.gif (914 bytes) from plaintiff Internet Business Solutions, a company owned by Emerald Henry Skaggs against Bill Britt, Rocky Covington, Paul Miller, and Kevin Bell.  The case started in July 2007, in Georgia state court and was moved to Federal Court in August, 2007. 

Apparently Skaggs spotted an opportunity to employ a software package to help the Britt organization distribute their tools more efficiently.  The process of distributing tools to the highest pin in the leg and then further distributing to tools to the next highest pin was time consuming for those that picked up tools or more expensive for those having to ship tools to out of town downlines.  From what I gather, the tools distribution system mirrored the old Amway product pick up system, and was never modernized to keep up the direct fulfillment like Quixtar employed.  A direct fulfillment approach to tools would be a natural evolution for any distributor network that went on direct fulfillment with Amway/Quixtar. 

The idea of a direct fulfillment would streamline the distribution of weekly subscriptions and enable the tools to be distributed within one week. 

According to the complaint, Skaggs was given the go-ahead to develop such a system for the Britt network.  As the system progressed, Skaggs was apparently always encouraged by the Britt leadership to continue to develop the program, which he was doing with his own capital.   After putting about $2 million into the system development, the Britt group made an about face and refused to use the system that IBS had development.   After which, bad blood developed and similar to the Hart case, Skaggs alleges that he was de-edified by his upline to ruin his Amway/Quixtar business.   Skaggs alleges his upline solicited his downline to obtain tools directly from them. 

Britt's response pdf_icon.gif (914 bytes) to the complaint basically states that there was no contract and no consideration and basically the complaint fails to state a claim upon, which relief can be granted. 

The ultimate destruction of the Skagg's business runs very much parallel to the business of Double Diamond Brig Hart.   I guess the lesson to be learned here is not what CFP and EDC John Sestina says that "In Amway you trust everyone", but "You only trust people in Amway when you have a written contract".