Kimkins Ordered to Pay $2 Million

KIMKINS ORDERED TO PAY $2 MILLION JUDGMENT
Posted on 5/13/2011



Riverside Superior Court has ordered Heidi “Kimmer” Diaz, owner of Kimkins, to pay $1,824,210 in damages as restitution to those who paid subscription fees to her diet plan and participated in a class action lawsuit against her company in October 2007. The court also awarded punitive damages of $500,000.

Diaz started a website in 2006, on which she posted photos of herself before and after she lost 189 pounds using the Kimkins diet. She offered permanent weight loss, without exercise, and a lifetime membership.

The lawsuit alleged that Diaz never lost weight, but remained at 300 pounds, having posted a false “after” photo. She's also alleged to have posted 41 false testimonials and pictures, the pictures obtained from a Russian mail-order bride website, to promote her website.

Plaintiffs say they suffered such health damages as loss of hair, arrhythmia, nausea, confusion, loss of lean muscle tissue, and more, after they used the diet plan.

Information in the Better Business Bureau's file on this company is that the lifetime membership costs $59.95 and entitles the subscriber to diet food lists, sample menus, a recipe library, support forums, an online personal journal, and direct access to Kimmer. We've received four complaints about Kimkins, none more recent than July 2009. One complainant felt “sick all the time” she was on the diet, but she and another complain because they never received the refund they requested after they learned about the Kimkins fraud. The other two complain because they were locked out of the website after paying for a lifetime subscription.

Kimkins was and is rated “F” by us.

The judgment against Kimkins also ordered payment of attorneys' fees, still to be determined, and injunctive orders.