1.8 Million Awarded to Plaintiffs in Kimkins Class Action Lawsuit
From the desk of our Lawyer:
Today, October 29, 2010, Judge Rick Brown of the Riverside County Superior Court entered a verdict for the plaintiffs in a certified national class action lawsuit. The court entered a verdict against Heidi Diaz the owner of the diet website Kimkins.com for fraud and false advertising. The court awarded the class members restitution in the amount of $1,824,210.39. The court also awarded an additional $500,000 in punitive damages as well as attorney fees. The court then issued a temporary restraining order to freeze all of the assets of Ms. Diaz.
Most notably, the court also imposed an injunction requiring Heidi Diaz to post on all of her websites that: (1) she lied about her weight loss; (2) she lied about her after diet pictures; (3) she lied about testimonials on her website; and (4) she lied about the photographs used with the testimonials to promote the Kimkins website.
An injunction was also issued to prevent Heidi Diaz from contracting, harassing or cyberbulling the plaintiffs and the witnesses. A formal judgment will be entered before November 19, 2010.
The original complaint was filed over three years ago on October 15, 2007. I want to thank everyone who supported the class action lawsuit. The Ducks were wonderful. I met a lot of great people and made a lot of new friends fighting for a good cause. Heidi Diaz lied on her website and made the fatal mistake of lying in the courtroom. You cannot trust Heidi Diaz. I anticipate more legal (illegal) maneuvering by Heidi Diaz to evade the judgment. We will be prepared and I will be relentless. Again, I thank all you.
John E. Tiedt
TIEDT & HURD
Let the champagne popping begin!
Thank you all my readers for your support.
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Kimkins Class Action Lawsuit Verdict To Be Announced Friday!
After 3 long awaited years, the verdict to the lawsuit against Kimkins.com is to be announced tomorrow morning at 10:30 am at the Hawthorne satellite court of the Riverside court house in Riverside California.
Look for Court Room 2.
Court precedings began earlier this week. Class representatives flew in from all over the country to participate and testify their experiences.
The Kimkins diet advocated a low carb and low calorie diet, and was run by Heidi Diaz of Corona California. Heidi Diaz is not a certified health care professional, and used false photography to represent herself and “supposed” members of the site. Some inspiration stories were later found out to be not the experiences of real people.
In a shocking undercover video, Ms. Diaz was revealed to not be the svelte woman in the red dress as advertised on her site back in 2007. In fact, that photo was “borrowed” from a Russian bride website as well as many others.
More news to follow.
Please feel free to share this breaking news with local California news sources, as well as national press.
Share this Post[?] Kimkins Notice – Opt Out Option
Filed under: Diet, kimkins, Legal Stuff, paid memberships
The following notice is presented for those who may need information on how to not participate in the Class Action Lawsuit against Kimkins.
Why would you want to do this?
Well, for one thing, maybe you like taking diet advice from someone who lied about their weight and used fake pictures from Russian Brides sites to promote her site.
A better reason might be that you did suffer some serious physical consequences and you will need to sue Heidi personally. Just know, if this would be your reason I am truly sorry for ailments you have faced and hope you are well or getting well.
Ok, so here is the information if you wish to duck out the back door:
NOTICE OF PENDENCY OF CLASS ACTION
TO: EVERYONE WHO PURCHASED A MEMBERSHIP TO KIMKINS.COM THROUGH THE KIMKINS.COM WEB SITE (www.kimkins.com) FROM JANUARY 1, 2006 TO OCTOBER 15, 2007
PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY. YOUR RIGHTS MAY BE AFFECTED BY A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT THAT IS CURRENTLY PENDING IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT, IN RIVERSIDE, CALILFORNIA.
INTRODUCTION
1. On May 20, 2009, the Riverside County Superior Court, located in Riverside, California, issued an order certifying this case to proceed as a class action.
2. The plaintiffs are six individuals who bought memberships to kimkins.com through the kimkins.com Website (www.kimkins.com) from January 1, 2006 to October 15, 2007. The defendants are Heidi Diaz, an individual, and Kimkins (also known as Kimkins.com), a business entity that conducts business in Corona, California.
3. The plaintiffs contend that Diaz and Kimkins.com induced them into buying memberships for kimkins.com through false and misleading information provided on the Kimkins.com Web site. The plaintiffs contend that the defendants violated California Business & Professions Code § 17200, et seq., which authorizes courts to provide relief from unfair, unlawful, and fraudulent business practices. The plaintiffs also contend that Diaz and Kimkins.com violated common law prohibitions against fraud and negligent misrepresentation.
4. This notice provides you with information regarding the litigation, including the plaintiffs’ claims against the defendants and the current status of the litigation. This notice also provides you with information regarding the court’s class-certification order.
THE LITIGATION
The Plaintiffs’ Claims
5. This lawsuit is based on the plaintiffs’ claims that Diaz and Kimkins used unfair, unlawful, or fraudulent business practices to induce them into buying memberships to Kimkins.com. This lawsuit is also based on the plaintiffs’ claims that the false and misleading information contained on the kimkins.com Web site constituted fraud or negligent misrepresentation by Diaz and Kimkins.
6. Here’s a list of the kinds of misconduct that the plaintiffs have alleged:
• that Diaz and Kimkins concocted a false persona, “Kim Drake” or “Kimmer” to sell memberships to Kimkins.com
• that Diaz and Kimkins misled potential members into believing that “Kim Drake” was real by using photos of real women and then falsely claiming that the photos depicted “Drake”
• that Diaz and Kimkins posted lied about “Drake’s” purported weight loss
• that Diaz and Kimkins provided false or misleading information to Women’s World magazine
• that Diaz and Kimkins fabricated 41 “success stories” and published on the Kimkins.com Web
• that Diaz and Kimkins made up celebrity endorsements
• that Diaz and Kimkins misused labels and metatags to steer Internet traffic to the Kimkins.com Website, in violation of the law
• that Diaz and Kimkins misled potential members into believing that they were buying lifetime memberships, when in fact Diaz and Kimkins.com terminated memberships at their whim
• that Diaz and Kimkins intended to mislead potential members and assumed that potential members would rely on her misrepresentations.
The Defendants’ Position
7. Diaz and Kimkins have denied all allegations of wrongdoing and liability, and they continue to deny that they have done anything wrong. Diaz and Kimkins also have asserted various affirmative defenses to the plaintiffs’ claims.
THE COURT’S CLASS-CERTIFICATION ORDER
8. In an order filed May 20, 2009, the Court granted the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification. The Court certified for class treatment the plaintiffs’ claims for equitable relief, including disgorgement of the subscription fees paid to Diaz and Kimkins by the plaintiffs and the members of the class.
9. The certified class is defined as all individuals who purchased the Kimkins.com diet membership on-line from the Kimkins.com Web site from January 1, 2006 through October 15, 2007.
THE COURT HAS NOT EXPRESSED ANY OPINIONS
REGARDING THE MERITS OF THE PLAINTIFFS’ CLAIMS
10. The Court ordered that this notice be provided to advise class members that this case is pending and that the Court has certified the case to proceed as a class action. You should not consider this notice or its mailing to be a statement by the Court that the plaintiffs are right or that their claims will prevail.
INSTRUCTIONS TO CLASS MEMBERS
11. You do not need to do anything to remain a member of the class. If you bought a Kimkins.com diet membership on-line from the Kimkins.com Web site from January 1, 2006 through October 15, 2007—including either of those dates—you are automatically included in the class. Your rights will be represented by the plaintiffs and their attorneys. You will not be personally responsible for any attorney fees or for the any of the costs of this litigation.
OPT OUT OF CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT
12. You have the opportunity to opt out of the class action lawsuit as detailed herein. If you incurred a personal injury as a result of using the Kimkins.com aka Kimkins Diet, you have a right to opt out. Notices to opt must be sent to jtiedt@tiedtlaw.com or mailed to Tiedt & Hurd at 980 Montecito Drive, Suite 209, Corona, California 92879.
WHERE TO GO & WHOM TO CONTACT
SHOULD YOU NEED MORE INFORMATION
13. This notice provides only a brief summary of this litigation. For further details, you should take one or both of the following steps:
• Review the documents in the Court’s file for this lawsuit. Many of these documents may be viewed or obtained on-line at the following URL: http://public-access.riverside.courts.ca.gov/OpenAccess/ . You also may review the Court’s file in person by going to the Office of the Clerk of the Court for the Riverside Superior Court, during regular business hours. The Clerk’s office is located at 4050 Main Street, Riverside, California 92501.
• Write a letter to the attorneys who are representing the plaintiffs and whom the Court has appointed to represent the class. Here are their names and their contact information:
John E. Tiedt & Marc S. Hurd
Tiedt & Hurd
980 Montecito Drive, Suite 209
Corona, California 92879
Michael L. Cohen
Michael L. Cohen, a PLC
707 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 4100
Los Angeles, California 90017
Ray Moore
Moore Winter McLennan LLP
701 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 200
Glendale, California 92103-4232
If you decide to contact one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, please do so in writing. To make it easier for them or one of their staff members to respond, however, your letter should include both your e-mail address and your telephone number.
There are estimated to be as many as 40,000 members in the class. So please, DO NOT CALL THE COURT OR ATTEMPT TO CONTACT THE COURT BY E-MAIL.
DATE: ___________________________, 2009
____________________________________
Hon. _________________________,
Presiding Judge
Share this Post[?] Like a Girl Waiting for the Phone to Ring Derek…
While the existence of Derek as a real person has been confirmed, what is not clear is how he now views Kimkins after having chatted with the folks in FWK over at LCF.
Before anyone gets all hot and huffy that I’m a bad girl blogging about Derek, I will remind you that Derek is the one who decided to share his story with Heidi and put himself in the spotlight. I know that Amy Curly appeared to feel bad that she had pointed him out. Amy, you did the right thing and please don’t feel bad for Derek anymore (if you do). He is a big boy at over 6 feet and has told us he is big so I’m sure he can handle this. He is a grown adult – although it seems his living quarters may be a bit cramped by the looks of it.
There are some questions by members that Derek has elected to ignore or glaze over. The big one is “How do you feel now about Kimkins?” I feel like a girl waiting for the phone to ring. Is he thinking about his answers or will he just ignore the question?
Derek’s pictures still rest on the Kimkins diet blogspot. We have offered Derek assistance if he would like to at any time submit a cease and desist. Derek, the longer you have those pictures up on the site, we can only believe that you are in support of Heidi Diaz who we have repeatedly shown you how she is involved in fraud and false advertising. In my opinion you are supporting a fraud Derek. Your positive story is being used to get new members who will give their money to a woman who is a fraud. Do you want to be known by everyone as a person who supports a fraud? Do I sound like a mean girl Derek? Well I’ve been sitting by the phone for quite some time waiting for you to make the call.The sooner you make the call the sooner we will really know what to think about Derek.
I initially wanted to think that Derek really did Kimkins, but upon further investigation I have changed that thought. He was surprised to hear that some of us were measuring our portions – just one of the things mentioned by Kimmer to really know where your carbs and calories are coming from on the diet. Derek did not measure his portions. He just changed what he was eating. We have no way of knowing what he actually ate since he does not have a fit day. He does not want to debate about what he ate or didn’t eat at this time. All we know is he is on the FWK thread to confirm his existence. Well, your existence is confirmed so unless you’d like to inform us of where your loyalties are, then I am done with you. I have a scam to fight and no time to dilly dally with you. I hope this story has a happy ending, but currently it’s not looking so good. Derek doesn’t have to answer our questions, but unfortunately for him this is not a good idea if he would like to really verify his existence and show us he is not perhaps a paid actor who was reading off the computer when he made his video.
He has only 3 posts on the Kimkins site, and it doesn’t look like he was really there to support the other dieters while he was off losing weight. He only came out after the controversy from what I understand. He didn’t feel comfortable. Supporting a fraud is not a comfortable thing to do. Perhaps that explains something.
I think Derek did the “derekins” diet.
Share this Post[?] Can You Hear Me Now?
As much as we have spread the word about the Kimkins diet, there are still so many who just don’t know. I see it as a responsibility to get the word out to as many people as I can.
I want to thank Awesomeology for stopping by with a question about Adsense Dangers.To ensure the important question was not lost to the comments area, I’m putting it here.
Awesomeology asked: How exactly is that an AdSense danger?
Avenuegirl answered: What a fantastic question, and I’m glad you asked. Big A, have you ever done a google search for Kimkins? I’ll give you a quick summary here. “Kimmer” aka Heidi Diaz created a diet called the Kimkins Diet. She used pictures taken from a Russian brides site to represent herself, and claimed that she had lost 198 lbs in 11 months. After a big Womans World release last year the diet got a big advertising boost, and the site exploded to over 20 thousand members. Then, some people were unable to see Kimmer in person and some were not feeling so well and noticed there were some problems with this diet – that supposedly the founder had done over 5 years ago and kept the weight off. A nice PI got us some video of our diet guru and the rest is history. Not only was she morbidly obese and tried denying to reporters that she was Heidi Diaz, but she has no nutritional certification that we know of and the diet itself appears to have triggered eating disorders amongst a group of it’s members. There is much much more! For one, there is a class action lawsuit that has been filed against Kimkins, and most recently the owner of Kimkins has struck back with a counter suit as apparently she has been caused some stress over the whole thing.
Unfortunately big A, the Kimkins site is still up and running, and by your allowing adsense ads for Heidi Diaz on your site you are providing a portal for people to get possibly sucked into a diet that was created by a fraud and a liar. I say fraud and a liar confidently, as it is the truth and we have proven it many times over. I would hate to see your friends or family get taken by this woman who banned many members from the site for no reason – thus not making good on our “lifetime memberships.”
I know you are just a guy trying to make a buck – and I don’t fault you for that whatsoever. If you would like to join in the cause there is a way to filter out the KImkins ads on your site, or you can look up what I’ve told you and add your own little take on the story.
I want to sincerely thank you for stopping by.
Sincerely,
Avenuegirl
I now see the word really needs to get out even more. As much as I feel like a broken record, it is clear that in this case too much is never enough.
I almost forgot to add! If you are looking for some video Awesomeology, here is a good one, but don’t take my word for it. Be sure to scour youtube and you will see plenty. For some reason this video got a bit squished.
Objects in this video are larger than they appear if you are looking at the squished version;)
Share this Post[?] La Dee Da
I’m having a weird deja vu as I write this.
Anyway, I just wanted to be clear here – I am not in the lawsuit against Kimkins for any money. I have seen that you think there are 2 sides to every story, and you see yourself as a success.
I’d like to refer you to a post I have buried somewhere on the Kimkins site. I’d like you to go to search the site, and look for a post called “50 lost, 50 gained” – and I believe it is some where in the success stories.
50 lost was my pounds at the time obviously, and 50 gained referred to things that I could do with that weight off and how I too had the perspective of a success story. People actually printed up my post and put it on their refridgerators.
If my enthusiasm of the plan at the time does not get to you in that post, or anyone else for that matter, then I just don’t know what will.
So, how did I become so bitter? How can I go from such feelings of control and success to wanting to bring down (to light actually) the very thing I though was helping me?
I gotta tell you Dee, things are not as clear cut as you are seeing them.
Heidi did not offer up the information we got from her. Her apology is not real.
No one wants to deny you the success of your weight loss. But we are concerned as some of us now know some additional truths. Any attempts to communicate inside the kimpound are to find those who may still not realize the full truth of this diet and what it can do to ones body.
No one is saying you are not smart enough to up your supplements and exercise. And just so you know – I take full responsibility for everything I did to myself – and I did exercise – and I did up my own supplements. But when all was said and done it wasn’t enough.
I never posted a negative word on the Kimkins site – and I was banned. Never one bad thing. Why?
This particular lawsuit is only about fraud. And yes, there are many other injustices in the world we could go after. And when they concern fraud which ultimately affects ones health you will find those causes do rise to the top of the list. It wouldn’t even be so much if Heidi did just gain some weight back. The problem here is someone who has no proof what so ever that they lost weight. The problem is someone who claimed they had maintained for 5 years after losing this way – giving the illusion that it is okay. There was no loss or maintenance.
If you are not seeing references to things like laxatives that is because they have been swept under the carpet. Just because you didn’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there. I’m sure when this is over you will see lots of things you didn’t before.
There are two sides – and I hope you take some more time to see what really is on the other side.
Share this Post[?] Forums, Cults, and Kimkins
I was recently accused of being “a leapord” that “can sure change their spots rather quickly.”
Was I a leopard? I did change my mind rather quickly about Kimkins Read more
Share this Post[?] Smoke This
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