HealthyYOU Vending Granted Stipulated Judgment And Permanent Injunction Against Chris Wyland / Grow Healthy Vending In Lawsuit Settlement

SALT LAKE CITY -- After more than a three year effort to discover the source of false and slanderous posts on the internet and hold the guilty party accountable, HealthyYOU Vending (and parent company 1.800.VENDING) has announced the successful conclusion of its efforts. After further investigation including numerous subpoenas and depositions, HealthyYOU discovered that nearly all of the posts made anonymously or under pseudonyms (pretending to be customers of HealthyYOU Vending) on consumer complaint websites were fabricated.  

Upon discovering through subpoena multiple bogus posts originating from the residential IP address of competitor Christopher Wyland, CEO of Grow Healthy Vending, HealthyYOU Vending filed a lawsuit in federal court in October of 2014 against Mr Wyland, Grow and other former vending aliases Mr Wyland has conducted business under (Civil No. 1:14-CV-00121-CW/ United States District Court for the District of Utah). 

The lawsuit has now been resolved with a settlement agreement, including a Final Judgment and Permanent Injunction against Wyland and Grow, ordered by United States District Court Judge Clark Waddoups from the District of Utah.  In the Judgment, Chris Wyland, Grow Healthy Vending and those persons in active concert or participation with them, are prohibited from making any further false or misleading misrepresentations about, or disparaging in any manner the products, services, business or officers of HealthyYOU Vending.  Wyland/Grow are also enjoined from further false statements regarding the geographic origin or quality of HealthyYOU’s machines.  Due to the defendant’s representation of his financial situation, Wyland will make an initial payment of $25,000 to HealthyYOU, and 20 additional payments over the next two years. 

“This has been a long process and we are happy to have it resolved”, said Jeff Marsh, Chief Operating Officer for HealthyYOU Vending. “Although it is now clear to everyone that these posts disparaging our company are fraudulent, from what we’ve discovered about his history, I am cautiously optimistic at best that Mr Wyland and Grow will refrain from further disguised attempts to damage our company.  Only time will tell.”  

Jefferson W. Gross, of Burbidge Mitchell & Gross, the lead attorney for HealthyYOU who filed the lawsuit against Wyland/Grow, feels the defendants are very fortunate.  “Quite frankly, after the maliciousness of some of these posts, I am amazed the executive team at HealthyYOU was so merciful in permitting settlement on those terms to Chris Wyland, and not taking him to trial and getting a multi-million dollar judgment against him.  The fact that multiple bogus posts were traced to Mr Wyland's home, and in one case to his personal email address, in addition to his making every effort over 2 ½ years to delay a trial, provides overwhelming evidence that Mr Wyland is responsible”, he added.  “Unfortunately, my clients will continue to suffer as many of the fraudulent posts will remain on these consumer complaint websites – since federal law shields them, in most cases, even for false or inaccurate information within a forum for speech (CDA, 47 U.S.C. § 230).  These sites continue to prosper by driving search traffic to their ‘bathroom wall’ content surrounded by paid advertising – it’s ridiculous.”   

About HealthyYOU Vending 

Pioneering the healthy vending movement since 2007, HealthyYOU Vending is a nutritional distribution platform dedicated to making healthy snacks and drinks available to people across North America and to the success of its operators.  Over the last 18 years, their team has developed over 6,000 customers/operators (over 1,000 healthy vending operators), having sold nearly 100,000 vending machines nationwide.  HealthyYOU Vending is an accredited member of the Better Business Bureau with an A+ rating, and its machines are manufactured in the United States with a lifetime warranty.