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Bethenny Getting Sued

15 years ago

New title for her show?

Reading news, the woman sold her Skinnygirl cocktail company for a whopping $120 mil in March. Holeeee cow! :o

But she's being sued by former managers for almost all of it. $12 mil for their 10% share and $100 mil punitive damages. Talk about easy come, easy go...

I hardly ever watch her show anymore, but I did catch a late night rerun. She was doing speaking engagements (to jammed audiences no less) and said that Skinnygirl was just a little 'acorn' of an idea that came to her.

It's so often the little, obvious, smack-ourselves-upside-the-head-Why-didn't-I-think-of-that ideas that seem to make people fortunes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bethenny getting sued

Comments (5)

  • 15 years ago

    An oral agreement? More vultures.

    I enjoy her show. Always good for laughing out loud. She's not pretentious like those other housewives.

    Btw, bought a bottle of Skinnygirl last week. Not bad for a bottled cocktail. Definitely on the tart side.

  • 15 years ago

    I missed the word "oral" skimming it, that's a pretty critical word. She seems like a very ambitious, savvy woman. So why she would verbally agree to give 10% of her earnings to anyone makes no sense.

    I remembered you like her show, that's why I posted this. ;) She reminds me of Lucy for some reason, except Jason is not a Desi type so much. And her baby is one of the most beautiful I've seen in awhile, her eyes are captivating.

    I don't drink anymore but used to love a good Mexican meal with an equally good margarita. (Will still get virgin margaritas now & then.) I've been curious about what makes hers different, aside from less calories, she must have tweaked the ingredients?

  • 15 years ago

    I like Bethenny and I watch her show. I hadn't searched for the sale price of Skinnygirl, but 120 mil is a nice chunk of change. And, of course, what comes with a nice chunk of change but folks who want some of the change. I'm sure there's more to the story, but I think Bethenny probably wins this one. If there is a written contract of some sort with these plaintiffs, then it doesn't make sense there would be oral agreements outside of the written agreement. I wouldn't be surprised if the contract contains just such terminology, a merger clause. Good think Bethenny now has plenty of $$ to fight the suit.

  • 15 years ago

    Skinnygirl has been sold for months now, but the one-time managers didn't go after "their" piece of the pie until now? Basically they were "timing" the market, waiting to see where Skinnygirl would go so they could demand more and more money. What would these creeps do if Skinnygirl had tanked 6 months in? Like if consumers decided this stuff tasted like crud? Or there was some weird manufacturing problem that contaminated the beverages and sickened people? They would be running away from this as fast as they could and disavowing any connection with her!

    Now, I'm sure she found a good lawyer before (or at least mid-run into) the Real Housewives show, and any sane person would be having that lawyer look over every contract. She seems smart enough to know not to get snookered into oral agreements.

    Sorry, but vultures is a good word. People who (OK, allegedly!) just sit back and wait to pounce. I can't wait to hear exactly what these ex-managers did to earn their 10%.

    (PS: After the promos for the most-recent episode, where she starts crying over this "life-changing" moment -- I thought she was pregnant again!)

  • 15 years ago

    I don't watch Bethany or any of the various Housewives shows.

    The only thing I would add to this thread would be that with regard to any lawsuit, by any plaintiff, the damages alleged in a Complaint are always inflated purposely, and most times are settled out of court for much less $$ than the plaintiff deems lost in their filed Complaint.

    Smart people don't do prolonged litigation as it is mad expensive, cuts into the total available money, as well as being very time consuming. I would be very surprised if anything but a mere nuisance value would be paid to these alleged "managers". Her ideas, her money unless she had a contract with her managers to share profits. Hopefully, Bethany's "managers" advised her properly on the trademark/registration of the product line properly; i.e., the product line and profits belong to Bethany. Unless she is a total bubblehead, which I have a strong feeling she isn't.

    Again, since I don't watch, I can't comment on her business acumen, but do know how the litigation game is played.