Lawsuit Against Vibram Survives Motion to Dismiss
and
DeFalco v. Vibram
By Bob Neinast, a.k.a., Ahcuah
We’ve been following the lawsuits against Vibrams for making unsubstantiated claims (including claims about the benefits of barefoot running). There was a pending motion to dismiss before the court, and that motion was denied on Wednesday.
So, here’s what’s going on.
First, a bit of a recap. The first suit was Bezdek v. Vibram, in the District Court of Massachusetts. I wrote a bit about it here, in Update on the Vibram Lawsuit. That update was actually about a second lawsuit against Vibram (filed by the same law firm, but in California), Safavi v. Vibram, and I wrote about it in Vibrams Sued. That suit was put on hold waiting for the result of the Bezdek lawsuit.
Last we heard, in the Bezdek case, Vibram had filed a Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim. I wrote about that in What’s Up With The Toe-Shoe Lawsuits?. The thing about such a motion is that it tries to get the court to agree that, even if every claim in the plaintiff’s complaint is true, the plaintiff still cannot win. It’s a pretty high standard, and such motions are not granted very often.
And in this case, it wasn’t. Now, don’t forget that Bezdek is basically suing under fraud statutes, saying that Vibram made unsubstantiated claims about the Vibrams. Vibram basically said that running barefoot is better, and that, as the court put it in its opinion denying the motion, “Running in defendants’ FiveFingers shoes is meant to mimic barefoot running, while also affording some protection against the elements.”
A lot of the case will probably hinge on whether barefoot running really is better, and whether they can prove it (and maybe whether that was the state of the science at the time of Vibram’s claims). Yes, we have a lot of anecdotal experience that it is, but will that be sufficient in a court of law?
Here’s what the court’s opinion says (I’ve put the full opinion at the end of this posting):
To read more on this, please visit: http://ahcuah.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/lawsuit-against-vibram-survives-motion-to-dismiss/
For the follow-up, DeFalco v. Vibram, please visit: http://ahcuah.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/defalco-v-vibram/