ACN is planning to take their motion to compel arbitration to the Supreme Court.

In the meantime the company requested the Supreme Court stay District Court proceedings, pending the outcome of their writ of certiorari.

ACN filed its application with the Supreme Court on or around December 13th.

In the application, ACN argues denying its motion to compel arbitration has created an

important circuit split regarding the proper interpretation of § 4 of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”).

ACN requested a stay on the District Court proceedings, because allowing the case to continue would

irreparably harm ACN and render any relief sought in this Court moot.

One interesting point to remember is that ACN isn’t a part of the lawsuit in question. The Plaintiffs have instead sued the Trump family, seeking to hold them accountable for promotion of ACN.

Nonetheless, as pointed out by ACN in their application;

The plaintiffs in this case have sued the Trump Defendants, not ACN.

Yet they have alleged that ACN’s marketing materials were fraudulent and misleading; that its business model was unlawful; and that fees paid to ACN, less monies recouped, are the measure of damages.

ACN is at the heart of their complaint.

This litigation already has caused ACN material financial and reputational harm that it cannot meaningfully mitigate.

Numerous articles have mischaracterized ACN’s business model as a marketing scam, scheme, and fraud.

After the Second Circuit’s decision affirming the district court, numerous press statements repeated Plaintiffs’ allegations that ACN is a “marketing scam targeting the poor and working class.”

This negative press coverage translates into material harm to ACN that is amplified with each iteration of media
coverage.

As ACN has described previously, the company has received multiple inquiries from IBOs, employees, and potential IBOs who have seen the media coverage.

It has been clear from these inquiries that many have been left with the false impression that ACN is a defendant in a class action for fraud. IBOs have reported to ACN concern that these media reports are dissuading potential IBOs from joining ACN and customers from signing up for ACN’s services.

This is a fundamentally unfair situation for ACN.

ACN already has suffered reputational harm as the subject of a dispute that should never have been litigated, where ACN has no real opportunity to defend itself.

ACN will continue to suffer that harm absent a stay.

On or around December 21st, Justice Sotomayor denied ACN’s request for a stay. ACN filing their writ of certiorari remains pending.

Bit of a difficult one this. I get where ACN are coming from, in that they haven’t been sued but the case very much involves them by name.

I also get why they’ve had no luck so far. They’re not a party and the dispute is between the Plaintiffs and the Trump family.

On the flipside, as per BehindMLM’s published ACN review, I wasn’t convinced the company had actual retail customers. Or at least not a significant percentage of them weighed against distributors.

Will be interesting to see if the Supreme Court takes up ACN’s writ. Stay tuned…

 

Update 12th June 2023 – In researching for a followup on the ACN Trump case, I revisited this article.

Turns out ACN never filed a Supreme Court writ after being denied their requested stay.

 

Update 17th January 2024 – The ACN Trump RICO class-action was dismissed in its entirety on January 11th, 2024.