Lawsuits Against LuLaRoe Keep Mounting

Nov 07, 2017 | Updated September 28, 2023

Lawsuits Against LuLaRoe Keep Mounting

Since 2017, LuLaRoe has been hit with multiple lawsuits regarding its business practices. Federal class-action lawsuits allege that LuLaRoe is a pyramid scheme. The Attorney General of Washington filed a lawsuit against LuLaRoe, its founders, and one of its promoters in Washington state court in 2019 alleging that the company is a pyramid scheme. (The case settled in 2021 pursuant to an agreement that requires LuLaRoe to pay $4.75 million, prohibits the company from operating a pyramid scheme in the State of Washington, and requires the company to publish an income disclosure statement that tells Washington recruits how much they can expect to earn as a distributor.) Other class actions filed in federal court allege that the company sells defective leggings, unlawfully charges sales taxes, or engages in deceptive and unfair practices with regard to its return policy. There are so many complaints that it’s hard to keep up.

Below are the cases that TINA.org is currently tracking. For more coverage of LuLaRoe, click here.

Case Name (Court, Date Filed)	Claim	Status
Ponkey et al v. LLR, Inc. et al (C.D. Cal., March 2021)	Pyramid Scheme Allegations	Arbitration granted; Decision reversed on appeal
Sperring v. LuLaRoe (C.D. Cal., Mar. 2019)	Pyramid Scheme Allegations and Issues with Return Policy	Appeal pending
State of Washington v. LuLaRoe (Wash. State Court, Jan. 2019)	Pyramid Scheme Allegations	Settled
Porsch v. LuLaRoe (S.D.N.Y., Oct. 2018)	Issues with Sales Tax	Dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction
Hill v. LuLaRoe (D. Mont., Sept. 2018)	Issues with Sales Tax	Dismissed
Van v. LuLaRoe (D. Ark., Sept. 2018)	Issues with Sales Tax	Appeal pending
Rocke v. LuLaRoe (C.D. Cal., Nov. 2017)	Pyramid Scheme Allegations	Voluntarily dismissed***
Atkinson v. LuLaRoe (C.D. Cal., Nov. 2017)	Pyramid Scheme Allegations	Voluntarily dismissed***
Patton v. LuLaRoe (C.D. Cal., Nov. 2017)	Issues with Return Policy	Voluntarily dismissed***
Haskett v. LuLaRoe (C.D. Cal., Oct. 2017)	Pyramid Scheme Allegations	Voluntarily dismissed***
Berry v. LuLaRoe (C.D. Cal., October 2017)	Pyramid Scheme Allegations	Voluntarily dismissed***
Lemberg v. LuLaRoe (C.D. Cal., Oct. 2017)	Issues with Return Policy and Pyramid Scheme Allegations***	Voluntarily dismissed
Heinichen v. LuLaRoe (C.D. Cal., May 2017)	Defective Leggings	Consolidated with similar lawsuits**
Mack v. LuLaRoe (C.D. Cal., May 2017)	Defective Leggings	Voluntarily dismissed**
Doran v. LuLaRoe (C.D. Cal., Apr. 2017)*	Defective Leggings	Consolidated with similar lawsuits**
Goodwin v. LuLaRoe (C.D. Cal., Mar. 2017)*	Defective Leggings	Consolidated with similar lawsuits**
Dean v LuLaRoe (C.D. Cal., Mar. 2017)	Defective Leggings	Consolidated with similar lawsuits**
Webster v. LuLaRoe (W.D. Penn., Feb. 2017)	Issues with Sales Tax	Dismissed

*Case was originally filed in state court and transferred to federal court

** Five similar lawsuits (Heinichen, Mack, Doran, Goodwin, and Dean) were consolidated and a Consolidated Class Action Complaint was filed. (In Re LuLaRoe, LLC, Leggings Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 17-cv-853, C.D. Cal.). See the Mack case in the chart to learn the status of the consolidated action.

*** The named plaintiffs in the Atkinson, Berry, Haskett, Patton, and Rocke cases were added to the Lemberg v. LuLaRoe class action that was amended in January 2018. The Lemberg amended complaint also added pyramid scheme allegations.