Oregon files lawsuit against LA Weight Loss

Consumer complaints prompted Oregon's Attorney General to sue

By Fufkin Vollmayer

LocalNewsDaily.com, Jul 13, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

So many consumers complained about LA Weight Loss, according to Oregon's Department of Justice, that the government had to sue the company, justice officials said.

"We got lots of complaints, some of them very specific ... and it doesn't take much to see a pattern ... and we asked them to discontinue. They haven't ... and we have filed suit," said Jan Margosian, media spokesperson for the agency.

The state's lawsuit — formally filed by Attorney General Hardy Myers on Friday — is against LA Weight Loss Franchise Co., based in Horsham, Pa., and its Oregon-based franchise, NWM Inc. of Lake Oswego.

The Oregon franchise's Portland area locations are in Clackamas, Gresham, Lloyd District, McMinnville, Sherwood, Tanasbourne, Washington Square and Wilsonville.

The government's lawsuit alleges that the weight loss company was guilty of requiring its customers to buy hundreds of dollars in food products when people enrolled in the program. Margosian said that LA Weight Loss misrepresented their diet plans. "The advertising and contracts are misleading right when you are looking at them," she said.

LA Weight Loss officials said that over the last year they've changed their business practices and no longer ask their customers to purchase the company's brand of food supplements or products. Diane Gilmore, director of training and customer service for LA Weight Loss said in a statement Friday: "We are disappointed that the attorney general has chosen to pursue old issues that were addressed long ago and unfairly penalize a company that has taken steps above and beyond requirements to implement improvements in good faith.”

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