Talk Show Guest’s Weight-Loss Products Made Her Sick, Licensee Says

SACRAMENTO (CN) - Victoria M. Morton, a frequent TV talk show guest and adherent to Scientology, has been sued for fraud by a business licensee who says Morton's "toxin removal" body wraps and defective weight-loss products gave her chronic and debilitating bacterial infections.

Morton plugged her products on numerous TV shows, including Oprah, Montel Williams, Roseanne, Inside Edition and Sally Jesse Raphael, according to the Superior Court action.

Victoria M. Morton Enterprises operates under a long list of dbas, including Suddenly Slender, Personal Beauty Unlimited, Research Foundation for Biochemistry and Nutrition Corp., Pyramid Consulting and Investment Co., and Hot Ticket Enterprises, the complaint states.

Plaintiff Marilyn Dillard says she sold Morton's products to clients of her home business, which she ran as a Morton licensee. The products included the Slender Tone Solution Powder, Slender Tone with MSM, Gold Water with Reverse Osmosis Water, an Anti-Aging Liquid, Power Wrap, and Lay Down Wrap Solution.

Dillard claims that as a result of using the products, she developed a welter of debilitating symptoms that continue to this day, including flu-like symptoms, labored breathing, antibiotic-resistant bronchitis and possible pneumonia, chronic yeast infections, severe joint pain, thyroid problems, dizziness, shaky hands, drowsiness, insomnia, poor balance, disorientation, bruising, blackouts, and a litany of other problems.

She claims Morton has sold more than 1,100 "licenses" to other people who sell the products.

The complaint states: "Victoria M. Morton, a Scientologist, invented these weight loss and 'toxin-removal' products and used the remaining Defendants, and all of them, to manufacture, design and sell these products nationally and internationally to consumers, including Plaintiffs. Through her inventions, Defendant Victoria M. Morton has achieved a certain state of notoriety and has appeared on various television talk shows including but not limited to 'Extra,' 'The View,' 'Inside Edition,' 'FitNation,' 'E! Daily News,' 'The Home and Family Show,' 'The Crook and Chase Show,' 'The Montel Williams Show,' 'The Roseanne Show,' 'The Sally Jesse Raphael Show,' and 'Oprah.' She boasts at having had her products features in 'thousands of local and national radio and television shows and other media.'"

Represented by lead counsel Jeffrey Fuller, Dillard and her family demand punitive damages for product liability, fraud, misrepresentation and negligence.

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