NOTICE OF PENDENCY OF CLASS ACTION

NOTICE OF PENDENCY OF CLASS ACTION




TO: EVERYONE WHO PURCHASED A MEMBERSHIP TO KIMKINS.COM THROUGH THE KIMKINS.COM WEB SITE (www.kimkins.com) FROM JANUARY 1, 2006 TO OCTOBER 15, 2007



PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY. YOUR RIGHTS MAY BE AFFECTED BY A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT THAT IS CURRENTLY PENDING IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT, IN RIVERSIDE, CALILFORNIA.



INTRODUCTION



1. On May 20, 2009, the Riverside County Superior Court, located in Riverside, California, issued an order certifying this case to proceed as a class action.



2. The plaintiffs are six individuals who bought memberships to kimkins.com through the kimkins.com Website (www.kimkins.com) from January 1, 2006 to October 15, 2007. The defendants are Heidi Diaz, an individual, and Kimkins (also known as Kimkins.com), a business entity that conducts business in Corona, California.



3. The plaintiffs contend that Diaz and Kimkins.com induced them into buying memberships for kimkins.com through false and misleading information provided on the Kimkins.com Web site. The plaintiffs contend that the defendants violated California Business & Professions Code § 17200, et seq., which authorizes courts to provide relief from unfair, unlawful, and fraudulent business practices. The plaintiffs also contend that Diaz and Kimkins.com violated common law prohibitions against fraud and negligent misrepresentation.



4. This notice provides you with information regarding the litigation, including the plaintiffs’ claims against the defendants and the current status of the litigation. This notice also provides you with information regarding the court’s class-certification order.



THE LITIGATION



The Plaintiffs’ Claims



5. This lawsuit is based on the plaintiffs’ claims that Diaz and Kimkins used unfair, unlawful, or fraudulent business practices to induce them into buying memberships to Kimkins.com. This lawsuit is also based on the plaintiffs’ claims that the false and misleading information contained on the kimkins.com Web site constituted fraud or negligent misrepresentation by Diaz and Kimkins.



6. Here’s a list of the kinds of misconduct that the plaintiffs have alleged:



• that Diaz and Kimkins concocted a false persona, “Kim Drake” or “Kimmer” to sell memberships to Kimkins.com

• that Diaz and Kimkins misled potential members into believing that “Kim Drake” was real by using photos of real women and then falsely claiming that the photos depicted “Drake”

• that Diaz and Kimkins posted lied about “Drake’s” purported weight loss

• that Diaz and Kimkins provided false or misleading information to Women’s World magazine

• that Diaz and Kimkins fabricated 41 “success stories” and published on the Kimkins.com Web

• that Diaz and Kimkins made up celebrity endorsements

• that Diaz and Kimkins misused labels and metatags to steer Internet traffic to the Kimkins.com Website, in violation of the law

• that Diaz and Kimkins misled potential members into believing that they were buying lifetime memberships, when in fact Diaz and Kimkins.com terminated memberships at their whim

• that Diaz and Kimkins intended to mislead potential members and assumed that potential members would rely on her misrepresentations.



The Defendants’ Position



7. Diaz and Kimkins have denied all allegations of wrongdoing and liability, and they continue to deny that they have done anything wrong. Diaz and Kimkins also have asserted various affirmative defenses to the plaintiffs’ claims.



THE COURT’S CLASS-CERTIFICATION ORDER



8. In an order filed May 20, 2009, the Court granted the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification. The Court certified for class treatment the plaintiffs’ claims for equitable relief, including disgorgement of the subscription fees paid to Diaz and Kimkins by the plaintiffs and the members of the class.



9. The certified class is defined as all individuals who purchased the Kimkins.com diet membership on-line from the Kimkins.com Web site from January 1, 2006 through October 15, 2007.



THE COURT HAS NOT EXPRESSED ANY OPINIONS

REGARDING THE MERITS OF THE PLAINTIFFS’ CLAIMS



10. The Court ordered that this notice be provided to advise class members that this case is pending and that the Court has certified the case to proceed as a class action. You should not consider this notice or its mailing to be a statement by the Court that the plaintiffs are right or that their claims will prevail.



INSTRUCTIONS TO CLASS MEMBERS



11. You do not need to do anything to remain a member of the class. If you bought a Kimkins.com diet membership on-line from the Kimkins.com Web site from January 1, 2006 through October 15, 2007—including either of those dates—you are automatically included in the class. Your rights will be represented by the plaintiffs and their attorneys. You will not be personally responsible for any attorney fees or for the any of the costs of this litigation.



OPT OUT OF CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT



12. You have the opportunity to opt out of the class action lawsuit as detailed herein. If you incurred a personal injury as a result of using the Kimkins.com aka Kimkins Diet, you have a right to opt out. Notices to opt must be sent to jtiedt@tiedtlaw.com or mailed to Tiedt & Hurd at 980 Montecito Drive, Suite 209, Corona, California 92879.



WHERE TO GO & WHOM TO CONTACT

SHOULD YOU NEED MORE INFORMATION



13. This notice provides only a brief summary of this litigation. For further details, you should take one or both of the following steps:



• Review the documents in the Court’s file for this lawsuit. Many of these documents may be viewed or obtained on-line at the following URL: http://public-access.riverside.courts.ca.gov/OpenAccess/ . You also may review the Court’s file in person by going to the Office of the Clerk of the Court for the Riverside Superior Court, during regular business hours. The Clerk’s office is located at 4050 Main Street, Riverside, California 92501.



• Write a letter to the attorneys who are representing the plaintiffs and whom the Court has appointed to represent the class. Here are their names and their contact information:



John E. Tiedt & Marc S. Hurd

Tiedt & Hurd

980 Montecito Drive, Suite 209

Corona, California 92879



Michael L. Cohen

Michael L. Cohen, a PLC

707 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 4100

Los Angeles, California 90017



Ray Moore

Moore Winter McLennan LLP

701 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 200

Glendale, California 92103-4232



If you decide to contact one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, please do so in writing. To make it easier for them or one of their staff members to respond, however, your letter should include both your e-mail address and your telephone number.



There are estimated to be as many as 40,000 members in the class. So please, DO NOT CALL THE COURT OR ATTEMPT TO CONTACT THE COURT BY E-MAIL.

Whoa! What a Class Act!

Class certification was granted on January 14th, 2009:Case RIC483005 - FENDERSON VS DIAZ

Action: HEARING RE: MOTION TO/FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION * BY JEANESSA FENDERSON01/14/2009 - 8:30 AM DEPT. 04

HONORABLE MICHAEL B DONNER, PRESIDINGCLERK: L. HALLCOURT REPORTER: T. FOSTERJEANESSA FENDERSON, KARIN BILLECI, TRISTA ESSEX, HEIDI MARTINEZ, KATHLEEN ROGERS, DIANA SHERBY REPRESENTED BY MICHAEL L COHEN A PROFESSIONAL LAW CORP - JOHN TIEDT PRESENT. MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION IS GRANTED. FORMAL ORDER TO BE PREPARED, SERVED AND SUBMITTED BY COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF

Whoa! And the winner is......

It is with great delight that Kimkins has won the award for Worst Diet Product of 2008 .

Take a bow, Heidi, that is if you can find the time. We know representing yourself in court will be taking up a lot of your time.

Whoa! - Oh, Roe is Me!

It seems that Heidi Diaz, aka Kimmer, owner of the Kimkins website, is counter-suing! I guess I'm one of those being accused of causing her mental anquish or some such hogwash. Well, nice try, but it's so wrong on so many levels.

I guess she just wants all her ducks in a "roe".

Whoa! I've done it!

I have finally quit ediets. Two weeks ago I made the decision to drop out of the support group I've been a member of since joining ediets. The "new" forum has just gotten to be more of a chore than the support I was looking for. I gave up trying to use html to format my posts. But the main problem was that it was still difficult to navigate. We would get new team members and they would either never show up or would drop out after a week, citing too much confusion. No one needs that kind of aggravation.

So, here I am - another disgruntled ex-member??? No - life is too short to put up with the hassles over there. Oddly enough, the same week, 2 other teammates dropped out. Oh, we all still get together on another free site, because we have all become friends and we do need the support - we just don't want the hassle. We're all much happier, I think.

Whoa! eDiets trades one inferior product for another..

I am really, truly disheartened about the eDiets forum change. I really thought they were going to get it right, but from what I see so far, it is still a mess. Everyone was so happy that we would be going back to using HTML, but the way it's set up is very complicated, in my opinion. I was pretty good at using HTML coding on the old board, but this new and improved forum uses a different, more complicated, system of coding. I predict that this will be just another disaster for the users. My challenge team has had 4 long-time members cancel their memberships - before the actual "update". Can't wait to see what happens in the next week or so.

Whoa! Another fine mess....

eDiets has, once again, decided to "upgrade" the members' support forum. A new and improved board is scheduled to be online sometime in the next 24 hours. We are once again locked out of our threads.

To top things off, an email/newsletter was sent out last month informing members that a billing error had occured and that recipients had not been billed for a couple of prior months, so they would be charging us for these months all at once. Funny - I'm billed annually, so I shouldn't have received this email at all. But some of my online friends did not receive the email, but were just billed 3 to 5 times this month! And they can't get in contact with anyone at the site! Lovely.....

It seems that customer service is still the lowest priority with eDiets.