Enhanced Athlete Defeats Nutrition Distribution’

CHEYENNE, Wyo., Nov. 17, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enhanced Athlete, a Cheyenne, Wyoming-based company focused on fitness and bodybuilding supplements has convinced a judge in the United States District Court of the Eastern District of California to deny an injunction in a false advertising case brought by serial plaintiff Nutrition Distribution.

Nutrition Distribution, LLC v. Enhanced Athlete, Inc. et al. (E.D. Cal., Case N. 2:17-cv-2069-JAM-CKD) is just one of more than 70 lawsuits filed by Nutrition Distribution against other supplement companies, in addition to hundreds of cease and desist letters Nutrition Distribution has sent demanding settlement payments. In each case, Nutrition Distribution alleges that it is a leader in the supplement industry and that the sales of the company’s fitness and bodybuilding supplements have been harmed by the false advertising of supplements by its competitors.  

Enhanced Athlete claims that Nutrition Distribution is really in the business of shakedown lawsuits to coerce supplement companies to pay a relatively small sum of money to settle the matter or else face substantial legal fees defending against Nutrition Distribution’s meritless claims.  EA further argues that Nutrition Distribution cannot show – and has never been able to show – that it has suffered any actual damage because there is no causal connection between the alleged false advertising by Nutrition Distribution’s targets and Nutrition Distribution’s alleged lost sales. 
Nutrition Distribution moved for a preliminary injunction against Enhanced Athlete arguing that it had suffered lost sales from Enhanced Athlete’s false advertising of supplements.  The Court denied the motion, agreeing with Enhanced Athlete and finding that “Plaintiff’s evidence does not establish a causal connection – or even more than a merely speculative connection – between Defendants’ product and marketing and Plaintiffs’ decrease in sales.”

“Enhanced Athlete is not going to be the next victim of Nutrition Distribution’s shakedown scheme,” says Scott Cavell, CEO of Enhanced Athlete. “So long as supplement companies continue to pay these nuisance value settlements, Nutrition Distribution will continue with its business model of shakedown lawsuits.”

Enhanced Athlete’s attorney Michael Adams of Rutan & Tucker, LLP said, “The Court’s order is the latest in a line of decisions finding that Nutrition Distribution has not established a causal connection between the defendants’ alleged false advertising and Nutrition Distribution’s alleged lost sales.”

Scott Cavell
Chief Executive Officer
Enhanced Athlete
scott@enhancedathlete.com