FACING NEW LEGAL DRAMA
After surviving heartbreak and scandal, Meri Brown is confronted with another crisis
In the last year, Sister Wives star Meri Brown has quietly reinvented herself. After divorcing Kody Brown in 2014 so a fellow sister wife could legally marry him, Meri endured a humiliating catfishing scandal in 2015 that exposed just how lonely she’d really been in her plural marriage. As she picked up the pieces, she started selling clothes as an “independent fashion consultant” for Lularoe in 2016 and is now among its top 100 sellers nationwide. It galvanized her life, gave her purpose and made her a success in her own right. “Loving this chapter of my life!” Meri recently exclaimed.
But now she’s embroiled in more drama. In the last six months, the company she represents — which made an estimated $1 billion in sales in 2016 — has been hit with four class-action lawsuits. It also has an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau and numerous complaints filed against it with the Federal Trade Commission. Legal claims against Meri’s new company include that its clothing is of such poor quality that it often falls apart or develops holes after just one use; that the company engages in unfair, fraudulent and unlawful business practices; and that it makes it nearly impossible for people to get refunds. One lawsuit filed in Northern California in May claims Lularoe markets videos that “specifically target vulnerable stay-at-home mothers” and tries to expand its sales “through the exploitation of often vulnerable women.” (The company has 80,000 sales reps.)
For Meri, Lularoe has been the perfect escape from her bizarre life living in the same Las Vegas cul-de-sac as Kody and his three other wives. In her own words, Meri, 46, went from being in “a vulnerable place” during and after her online emotional affair with a female catfisher masquerading as a man (see sidebar) to living an “absolutely fulfilling” life since joining Lularoe. But it could cost her: According to a suit filed in March in Northern California, the brand’s fashion consultants operate in a “pyramid selling” structure and have to shell out $5,000 to $9,000 to purchase their initial “onboard package” of clothing, then are encouraged to keep about $20,000 in inventory around at any given time. Meanwhile, claims a lawsuit filed in Central California in May, the company focuses its “business model on recruiting more fashion consultants and selling more onboard packages, rather than catering to the voices of the consumers they do not sell directly to.”
Those consumers often end up frustrated and out of options, charge litigants. “The products Defendants sell to their Consultants, namely leggings and other clothing, are often damaged, defective, and/or are of such poor quality that rips, tears, holes, and other damage appears
upon first wearing, first washing, or shortly thereafter,” states the other May suit, which notes that in March, the BBB issued a consumer alert warning it was difficult for consumers to obtain refunds from Lularoe, which has encouraged consultants to learn to sew and repair defective products for customers rather than try to return them.
Meri, who wrapped up a nine-city pop-up shop tour for the brand in mid-August, has stayed mum on the legal scandal. But Lularoe, which has filed motions to dismiss or oppose all four cases, tells In Touch it “believes these allegations are completely without merit” and insists it “maintains industry-leading practices and stands by the quality and craftsmanship of our apparel products, including our leggings. Our products go through at least three levels of quality control review, exceeding the industry standard.” (As for a lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania in February accusing the company of unlawfully collecting sales tax on clothing in states where there is none, Lularoe says it was a software error they’ve worked to fix.)
As the lawsuits work their way through the legal system, Meri will keep moving those leggings. “I’m so blessed that #Lularoe came into my life when it did, the perfect time,” she gushed on Instagram on July 30, adding, “I love seeing #Mywhy lived out and fulfilled.” ◼