Facts

Defendant Hy Cite Corporation (HCC), dba Royal Prestige, was a Wisconsin corporation which sold cookware, tableware, and water filters to the general public, and also provided financing for those purchases. Defendants Erik Johnson, Peter O. Johnson Jr., James D. Martin, and Lawrence Schauff were officers of HCC.

HCC offered a sales contest promotion where consumers were contacted and told they had been selected to win a prize or free gift. Once the consumers provided personal information to HCC, they were given appointments to receive the prize or gift at which point, HCC representatives would make sales presentations. During the sales presentations, the HCC representatives would make negative statements regarding the safety of competitors' products and positive statements concerning reduced energy usage.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:

Result

The plaintiff agreed to a settlement whereby defendants were permanently enjoined from making untrue or misleading statements to consumers and agreed to pay $1,350,000 in civil penalties, restitution, attorney fees, costs, and for independent monitoring.

Other Information

FILING DATE: Aug. 25, 2008.