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February 2010

Breaking News:

Class Action Lawsuit
Filed Against FreeLife
for False Claims

A Class Action Lawsuit against FreeLife International is now filed in the United States District Court of Arizona. This lawsuit alleges false claims, misrepresentations, false and deceptive advertising and other issues regarding FreeLife's Himalayan Goji Juice, GoChi, and TaiSlim products. This lawsuit seeks remedies for consumers who have purchased these products over the past several years.

Download and read FreeLife Class Action Lawsuit

Offsite Link: Read a synopsis of the FreeLife Class Action lawsuit at www.mlmwatch.org.

How FreeLife goji juice
spilled into 4 lawsuits ...

"David
(at breathe.org)
vs.
Goji-liath"

The FreeLife Goji Giant tries to stifle the facts on this site - and we're Fighting Back!

A brief history - how our battles with FreeLife evolved:

June 2007:

While shopping in a natural foods store, we are approached by a FreeLife distributor with wild claims about FreeLife's expensive goji juice (read our saga from the beginning).

As longtime natural health enthusiasts, we do not believe in a health value for processed, nonfresh, bottled juices and we are appalled at the bold, false claims we are told.

July/August 2007:

We research the claims and are shocked to discover that:

1. FreeLife's leading spokesperson, Dr. Earl Mindell has a Ph.D. from Pacific Western University - an unaccredited institution offering “public paid for bogus degrees,” according to the Washington Post.
   
   
2. The Canadian Broadcasting Company has already aired a TV expose of FreeLife, where a hidden camera reveals what happens inside a FreeLife meeting with Dr. Mindell, who promotes FreeLife goji juice with outrageous cancer cure implications.
   
   
3. Dr. Mindell and FreeLife distributors BLAST other goji companies for boiling their juices and for using dried berries, when in fact FreeLife's juice is from goji berries that are dried, then reconstituted and boiled.
   
   
4. Distributors hawk FreeLife goji juice as 100% raw and never, ever heated, when in fact it is boiled at very high temperatures, which FreeLife keeps a closely guarded secret.
   
   
5. We uncover that FreeLife's goji juice is heat sterilized at higher temperatures than pasteurization, yet Peter Reilly, FreeLife's Chief Operating Officer, claims that "the juice is raw" and "not pasteurized" (listen to audio).
   
   
6. FreeLife heavily markets its goji juice as "cold pressed," "chill blended," and "cold filled" - without disclosing the truth that the juice is boiled.
   

With all that we have now discovered about FreeLife, we decide to do something proactive to alert unwary health conscious consumers.

September 25, 2007:

We launch our site here at www.breathe.org in order to educate the public and warn people about FreeLife goji juice false claims.

We feel we performed a civic duty, and now think our work is done.

October 5, 2007:

FreeLife's attorneys send us a nasty letter threatening to sue us if we do not immediately shut down this web site.

They state categorically that "A jury will have no problem assessing damages for your calculated and intentional attempt to damage the reputation of FreeLife."

We are alarmed and seek legal counsel.

October 2007:

To our utter astonishment, FreeLife distributes a Smear Letter that proclaims that we at breathe.org are somehow associated with lawsuits from Walt Disney, the American Heart Association, Bank of America, Amazon.com, Yahoo, and fraudulent textbook schemes at the University of Nevada.

We are aghast at FreeLife's actions. We send out an email informing FreeLife distributors that all the above is patently false.

To arm ourselves against further FreeLife attacks on our credibility, we now research even more deeply into FreeLife's activities. We begin to discover more shocking issues, including:

1. FreeLife distributors are marketing FreeLife goji juice with a book by Dr. Earl Mindell that lists 34 health reasons for using FreeLife's expensive, processed goji juice, including "prevents cancer" and "inhibits tumor growth." As natural food advocates, we believe these to be false and likely illegal claims.
   
   
2. We talk to Dr. Earl Mindell via phone about the temperature to which FreeLife goji juice is heated. He tells us,
   
   "We use low temperature for everything, cold filled...cold chilled... I don't know how much clearer we could be than that."
   
   He doesn't realize we already know the truth that his Himalayan Goji Juice is boiled before bottling.
   
   
3. Dr. Sandy Boice claims to distributors around the globe that FreeLife goji juice is kept "alive by not heat processing it." We learn that Dr. Boice is a FreeLife Royal Ambassador #1 - one of FreeLife's top distributors who makes up to $2.4 million a year or more.
   
   
4. We uncover other Royal Ambassadors and FreeLife distributors who echo similar false claims.
   
   
5. We arrange a pow-wow with top FreeLife distributors and uncover more surprising true confessions about FreeLife.
   
   
6. We research and discover other shocking issues regarding FreeLife's goji juice, which we document elsewhere on this site.
   

October 12, 2007:

We decide to face FreeLife's threats and continue to serve the public interest.

Our feeling is this: We know that many other "health" product companies are making similar outrageous claims as we have documented on this site. Using FreeLife as an example, we feel that our work here at breathe.org presents a CASE STUDY for health conscious consumers everywhere. Our hope is that consumers can apply what they learn here when dealing with hundreds of other so-called "health and wellness" companies.

Our action: Rather than caving under FreeLife's threats, we now update the site here at breathe.org with newly discovered information.

October 19, 2007:

FreeLife serves us a lawsuit (Goji Lawsuit #1) for injunctive relief and money damages, claiming "defamation with a negligent, reckless, and/or intentional disregard that the published information was and remains untrue."

Later, we file a countersuit (Goji Lawsuit #2) because of the outrageous Smear Letter that FreeLife put out about us.

November 2007 - May 2009:

Our battle with FreeLife is long and complex, yet leads to revealing testimony from top FreeLife officials who are forced to admit that facts we have exposed at breathe.org are true and accurate.

Meanwhile, many FreeLife customers and distributors feel ripped off and want a Class Action Lawsuit to be filed against FreeLife. Several law firms become interested in filing the case.

After reviewing the shocking testimony we gathered in depositions with FreeLife officials, a consumer advocate law firm in Phoenix decides to move forward strongly with a Class Action Lawsuit.

June 4, 2009:

A Class Action Lawsuit is served to FreeLife (Goji Lawsuit #3).

Download and read Class Action Lawsuit

Today:

These cases are continuing and we will report more details in future. In the meantime, please review this site for more information about this ongoing saga that is of interest to all health conscious consumers...

We appreciate your support!

Now publicly revealed:

FreeLife Loses Lawsuit !!

At the top of this page we mentioned FOUR lawsuits involving FreeLife goji juice.

We have already mentioned three (above). Here now is Goji Lawsuit #4.

Briefly, here's what happened:

In October 2006, Robert Young, author of The pH Miracle, stated (among other things) that Himalayan Goji Juice is "not fit for human consumption" (view blog).

FreeLife viciously threatened to sue Robert for defamation, but Robert held firm to his constitutional right of free speech, and did not cave in to FreeLife's demands.

Freelife then sued Robert and his company for defamation, and dragged Robert through an arduous and expensive legal battle.

On June 12, 2008, Robert's attorney filed to have the case dismissed (see PDF copy of Motion for Summary Judgment).

The upshot?

Robert Young Wins, FreeLife Loses

On September 26, 2008, the court dismissed the case in Young's favor (see PDF copy of Court Decision). FreeLife lost its bitter effort to suppress a U.S. citizen's right of free speech.

We admire Robert Young for standing up for his rights. Thank you, Robert.

We here at breathe.org strive to walk in Robert's footsteps - to stand firm for our rights of free speech, to stand for truth, and to educate the health conscious consumer.

Congratulations, Robert, on winning your fight against FreeLife's attacks.

Do you deserve a refund?

Please tell us: Have you ever purchased FreeLife goji juice - either now or anytime in the PAST - and were you told any of the following claims?

1. That each bottle of FreeLife goji juice contains the same polysaccharide content as two pounds of fresh goji berries?

2. That your body needs to replenish "Master Molecule" polysaccharides on a daily basis for optimal health, and that these "Master Molecules" are unique to goji?

3. That goji juice contains polysaccharides that can cure cancer or any other disease? (See Canadian Broadcasting investigative report on FreeLife for examples.)

4. That FreeLife goji juice is "raw," "cold processed," or "never heated"?

5. That preservatives were used in Himalayan Goji Juice to avoid boiling or processing the juice with heat?

6. Did any FreeLife distributor ever reference or provide you with Dr. Earl Mindell's book, Goji: The Himalayan Health Secret, which contains various health claims about goji? Were you unaware of Dr. Mindell's educational background? Did you notice the "Ideal Spectral Signature" graph in this book, which also appears on all FreeLife goji juice bottles?

7. Do you feel you deserve a refund? (Tell us why.)

If you say "yes" to any of the above statements, please contact us immediately at breathe.org. Thanks!

Coming soon ... our report on FreeLife distributor "goji cure" false claims for cancer and other diseases.

Stay tuned...

We'll keep you posted with more details of these lawsuits with FreeLife.

To automatically receive email updates from time to time, we invite you to join our mailing list.

Latest updates posted:

FreeLife used their own employees as test subjects for their GoChi research (we're not kidding). View all new pages

FreeLife major layoffs read more

Offsite Link: Read a synopsis of the FreeLife Class Action lawsuit at www.mlmwatch.org.

New to breathe.org? Here's what to do

Help us to keep breathe-ing:
Please link to our site and tell your health-conscious friends to visit us at breathe.org. Thanks for taking action! ©2008 breathe.org, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. We serve the public interest to promote natural, holistic, and health-conscious education for the welfare of all people.