Back in September Plaintiff Suhanna Jens was awarded an individual $10,000 judgment. It appeared at the time that her intended class-action was off the table.

Since then a class has been certified and, more recently, Jens won summary judgment against Tori Belle with respect to additional damages.

The approved class appears to be Tori Belle distributors in Washington, who signed up after January 1st, 2020.

Jens filed for summary judgment in late 2022 with the aim of addressing

two issues that must be resolved later and in separate proceedings:

(1) the number of independent contractors in Washington who signed noncompetition covenants; and

(2) whether any of those individuals have damages in excess of the statutory damages requested by Ms. Jens and the Class.

To that end summary judgment was requested to certify factual allegations raised in Jens’ class-action complaint.

In a January 3rd order, the court found that

Plaintiff’s earnings from Defendant were less than $250,000 annually at all times Plaintiff worked for Defendant.

Defendant required Plaintiff and each member of the Class to agree to noncompetition covenants after January 1, 2020.

Defendant prohibited Plaintiff and each member of the Class from competing against Defendant.

Each of Defendant’s independent contractors’ Class Members’ earnings from Defendant were less than $250,000 annually at all times they worked for Defendant.

Defendant’s Tori Belle Independent Affiliate Agreement, Annie Agreement, and Amended Annie Agreement contain noncompetition covenants as defined by RCW 49.62.010(4)

Defendant violated RCW 49.62.030 by requiring Plaintiff and each Class member to agree to the Noncompetition Covenants after January 1, 2020, without paying them the required statutory amount, as provided in RCW 49.62.30(1), as adjusted annually in accordance with RCW
49.62.040.

“RCW” refers to “Revised Code of Washington”, a “compilation of all permanent laws now in force” in the state of Washington.

As a result of Defendant’s violations, Plaintiff and the Class are entitled to relief as required by RCW 49.62.080(2).

As a result of Defendant’s violations, Counsel for the Plaintiff is entitled to reasonable attorneys’ fees, expenses, and costs incurred in the proceeding as required by RCW 49.62.080(2).

I looked up RCW 49.62.080(2) to get a sense of damages. Here’s what the chapter states;

If a court or arbitrator determines that a noncompetition covenant violates this chapter, the violator must pay the aggrieved person the greater of his or her actual damages or a statutory penalty of five thousand dollars, plus reasonable attorneys’ fees, expenses, and costs incurred in the proceeding.

The court adopted the $5000 penalty amount.

Plaintiff and members of the Class are each entitled to statutory damages in the amount of $5,000.

Plaintiff and the Class are entitled to their reasonable attorney fees and costs. Plaintiff and the Class shall move this Court in a separate motion for approval of its reasonable attorney fees and costs.

Tori Belle has been ordered to provide Jens’ attorney a list of Washington distributors who signed up after January 1st, 2020.

From there I’m assuming the court will work out the total amount awarded to the class via summary judgment.

Any current or former Washington Tori Belle distributors who want to opt out will be provided instructions on how to do so.

As I understand it the question of whether any of the Class Members “have damages in excess of the statutory damages requested by Ms. Jens and the Class” remains unresolved.

Bearing in mind Jens’ class-action has been filed at the state-level, meaning I don’t have access to the case docket, we’ll try to keep you posted as proceedings continue.

 

Update 18th January 2023 – Suhanna Kens has been awarded $56,099 in legal costs and fees as per a January 17th order.

 

Update 12th October 2023 – A Tori Belle Chapter 7 conversion bankruptcy filing has revealed a $9 million claim related to the summary judgment order in Plaintiff Jens’ case.