Under agreements reached Monday between Robin Leach and the attorneys general of 12 states, the states will end their lawsuits against the television personality for allegedly making false statements in a series of direct mail promotions for a Florida-based travel company.
The agreements with Leach do not affect the lawsuits against Florida-based National Travel Services Inc. (NTS), Plaza Resorts Inc., and owners Daniel Lambert and James Merrillo, alleging the fraudulent marketing of travel packages that cost consumers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The suits, in which authorities seek refunds for thousands of consumers, are still pending in Arkansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
Leach’s suit-ending agreements with the states were announced separately by Washington Attorney General Christine Gregorie and John J. Hannaway, Leach’s attorney.
Under those agreements Leach, who admitted no wrongdoing, agreed to comply with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines requiring pitchmen to base their endorsements on honest beliefs based on either personal experience or independent investigation of the endorsed product or service.
Leach was quoted by his lawyer as saying “I want all future travel advertising to be absolutely problem free for consumers and me.”
Gregorie said in a statement that the “next time Robin Leach puts his name behind a vacation package, promising caviar wishes and champagne dreams, he’d better know those promises are true.”
In a separate statement Hannaway said that Leach agreed to settle the lawsuits “to avoid the onerous task in time and costs to defend multiple, simultaneous lawsuits in various parts of the country.”
Noting “there has been no finding or admission of any liability by Mr. Leach and no monetary fine or penalty has been imposed,” Hannaway explained that Leach, who had a relationship with another travel company which NTS acquired, was never an officer or principal of NTS, having refused to sign a contract with the firm or accepting payment from it.
Hannaway also said that Leach ended his relationship with NTS long before the lawsuits, the result of last year’s joint state-FTC investigation into alleged false and misleading travel promotions.
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