Joe
Land, a South Carolina Quixtar distributor who operates as Alliance Net Solutions,
sued Internet critic Scott
Larsen in June 2002, accusing him of defamation and copyright
violation. Read the lawsuit. The exhibits at the end are particularly interesting. Larsen's needling emails (see Exhibit B, which starts on page 27) must have driven Land right up the wall. Read what "MLM Survivor" Ruth Carter says about the suit here. And read the letter that the Lands' lawyer, Marcus Mancuso, sent to Larsen.
Larsen's analysis of Land's overheated sales pitch, complete with audio excerpts from an open meeting he recorded, pointed out numerous statements by Land that supposedly violate the Amway/Quixtar rules. A modified version of the page is still available on Larsen's web site, but you will find all references to Joe Land have been replaced by "the Diamond", and the audio excerpts are gone.I wrote Larsen about the suit. Although he believed it to be without merit (there is a legitimate "fair use" defense to claims of copyright infringement), he settled to avoid representation costs, since he no longer lives in South Carolina. Land's strategy was apparently to spend Larsen into submission, rather than try to actually collect the $75,000 in damages he'd asked for. What he really wanted was for his name to be removed from the web site -- and Larsen has done this.
The lawsuit itself, along with its exhibits, remains in the public record. Anyone can obtain a copy from the court in South Carolina. Interesting reading indeed.