FocalPoint International. Richard Verkely, Francois Perrault, Steve Thompson Franchise ripoff, dont be caught out. Calgary Alberta Canada, Las Vegas Nevada

Yes, Action lost it's suit against FocalPoint, but the real truth is that Verkely, Thompson and Perrault avoided breaching their non-compete clauses by starting FocalPoint in the U.S., where Canadian law has no jurisdiction. They were smart enough to stay out of Canada.

I worked with Steve Thompson and thought I trusted him... but as I got to know the inside story, I am disgusted with the man and his complete lack of ethics. He is charming and seems like a great guy when you first meet him, but as you speak with people who have done business with him in the past, you quickly find out that he is nothing more than a wanna-be con artist who will take a buck from his own mom.

Fellow Action Coaches, Master licensees, and Action Employees.

The following details the recent Judgment in the lawsuit between Richard Verkley, Stephen Thompson, Francois Perreault, Action Canada (AIC) and Action Australia PTY (AIPL).

The reason I am sending this today is because I have just recently become aware of the facts behind this lawsuit by receiving the actual final court judgment and I believe we should all be aware of the injustice that has been done.

I am sending this email as well because I am ashamed of the treatment that was given to Richard Verkley, Steve Thompson, Francois Perreault and the AIC staff over this affair. I say this because I believed the lies that were told by Brad Sugars and Vic and others at AIPL that these individuals had broken there contract and had acted illegally. They were also falsely accused of inappropriate use of the Canadian marketing fund by AIPL, and a few Canadian coaches, and especially Jim Argue who's main interest was to discredit them so he could gain control of AI Canada for a fire sale price. These made up allegations have now also been proven to be unfounded. .

I know now from reading the final Judgment available E&Ys website
that none of the things that these men were accused of were true. I also know that AIPL provided no evidence in the trail and never had any evidence to substantiate any of there claims against them.
(Clink link below or paste in browser)
ey.com/global/content.nsf/Canada/Action once there look under the heading
OTHER COURT MATERIALS: Reasons for judgment dated November 9, 2005

The following are the key issues and accusations that were leveled by AIPL against AIC and the gentlemen above.

That AIC had breached its contract by not disclosing its involvement with FocalPoint. The Judge ruled there was no evidence to support AIPL's assertion that AIC had breached the contract on this point. The judge also ruled that even if AIPL had provided such evidence this would still not have resulted in a breach of the contract as the contract did not in actuallity allow for such a breach based on a plain reading of the contract, so even if AIC had done what it was accused of it still would not have breached the contract as told to us by AIPL, Brad and Vic.
See page 7 lines 6-27 of the attached Judgment.
See page 8 lines 1-19

Also it was clearly pointed out that even if AIC had been DIRECTLY involved with FocalPoint there would have still have been no breach of the contract or the need to disclose.
See page 8 lines 16-22

The court also states there was no fraudulent behavior on the part of AIC therefore it was AIPL that would have to live up to there contractual obligations or basically, it was AIPL not AIC that was not honoring its obligations.
See page 8 line 27
See page 9 lines 1-3

Next AIPL attempted to rescind the AIC's renewal agreement, they attempted to do this by claiming misrepresentation yet they had no actual information to substantiate their claim. Once they had actually gained the all of the information from all parties it was clear that there was still no misrepresentation yet they pressed ahead anyway with a claim that was unsubstantiated.
See page 9 lines 4-26

The courts final findings were that:
1. AIPL's claims against AIC were dismissed
2. That the Master License agreement was valid and binding.
3. That AIC would catch up the royalties it had stopped paying once the lawsuit was launched by AIPL See page 10, lines 3-16
4. That the CCAA or insolvency was essentially caused by AIPL
See page 10, lines 20 and 21

A substantial penalty was meted out to AIPL by the court due to the frivolous and unsubstantiated nature of AIPL's lawsuit. This penalty is uncommon in this type of hearing and therefore costs were awarded to AIC and MFIT because AIPL's claims were so unsubstantiated.
See page 10 lines 17-26

Once again I am ashamed that I believed the lies that were spread about these men the true facts are that they were great supporters and pioneers of the Action system they developed many of the tools and processes that we all use today. They shared freely of any advancements they had created with the entire system, while Brad took credit for their work and sent out their materials and systems as if they were his own.

They gave us the new logo, professional marketing pieces, the twelve week post training program, group coaching, a coach's website which was still better than the one we have today and many, many other improvements to the system. They truly lived with abundance.

When Action USA was struggling they fought for the Masters and Coaches to get proper support from AIPL and in the interim they volunteered to help anyone in need, Masters and Coaches. They spent countless hours coaching, training and supporting Masters not only in the USA but Mexico and Europe they encouraged their coaches as well to help when Brad and AIPL would not send any support and they created a real culture in Action of helping one another. They did all of this at their own expense because they believed in the Action culture statement and actually lived it.

Any of us who attended a Canadian conference knows how genuine AIC was, everyone wanted to emulate their model except AIPL. When the FocalPoint opportunity presented itself they offered to share their good fortune with all of Action once again showing their abundance. Vic and Brad promptly turned them down. AIPL's answer was scarcity in the form of frivolous lawsuits to cause purposeful harm to them and their character.

So what has been the result - Action has lost their soul. They attacked honest men and turned all of those whom they had helped against them by spreading vicious rumors and lies. AIPL was aided by the weak who did not stand up for the very men that had stood up for them. Many coaches took advantage of the lies and situation created by AIPL and refused to pay their royalties. They were abandoned by almost everyone who new them in the Action system save a few that refused to be swayed by the lies. Their reputations have been smeared and many incorrect or scandalous things have been written about them based on AIPL's lies. Their families have been damaged and they have lost untold sums financially because of these lies.

My only way to atone for my shortcomings and behavior is to make sure the Facts were told. I also know when my renewal comes up I will not be rejoining Action. I will be looking for an organization that lives its own culture statement and that has leaders who live it themselves. I will do this in hopes of continuing my coaching career and living the culture with people who actually know what it means.

So what are the ultimate results, what goes around comes around, go to www.franchise50.com you will see the top franchises as voted by the franchisees themselves, you will see that FocalPoint is 11th out of 50 and Action is 39th, culture is everything in our business.

I encourage any of you who were once their friends to let them know, that you now know the truth, better late than never. We have obviously lost out because of the lies and scarcity shown by AIPL and its top Management. See the FACTS go to ey.com/global/content.nsf/Canada/Action once there look under the heading
OTHER COURT MATERIALS: Reasons for judgment dated November 9, 2005

I am sure that there will be many excuses and denials as to what has been said here but the facts are in black and white in the Judgment for all to see. The end result will be, someone else will be blamed, and this is what you would expect from a leadership that lives below the line.

I suggest a review by AIPL and its leaders on these following points of Culture as they seem to have been forgotten or not understood.

# 2 Ownership, # 3 Integrity, # 5 Communication, # 6 Success, # 10 Fun, # 13 Gratitude, # 14 Abundance

Fellow Action Coaches, Master licensees, and Action Employees.

The following details the recent Judgment in the lawsuit between Richard Verkley, Stephen Thompson, Francois Perreault, Action Canada (AIC) and Action Australia PTY (AIPL).

The reason I am sending this today is because I have just recently become aware of the facts behind this lawsuit by receiving the actual final court judgment and I believe we should all be aware of the injustice that has been done.

I am sending this email as well because I am ashamed of the treatment that was given to Richard Verkley, Steve Thompson, Francois Perreault and the AIC staff over this affair. I say this because I believed the lies that were told by Brad Sugars and Vic and others at AIPL that these individuals had broken there contract and had acted illegally. They were also falsely accused of inappropriate use of the Canadian marketing fund by AIPL, and a few Canadian coaches, and especially Jim Argue who's main interest was to discredit them so he could gain control of AI Canada for a fire sale price. These made up allegations have now also been proven to be unfounded. .

I know now from reading the final Judgment available E&Ys website
that none of the things that these men were accused of were true. I also know that AIPL provided no evidence in the trail and never had any evidence to substantiate any of there claims against them.
(Clink link below or paste in browser)
ey.com/global/content.nsf/Canada/Action once there look under the heading
OTHER COURT MATERIALS: Reasons for judgment dated November 9, 2005

The following are the key issues and accusations that were leveled by AIPL against AIC and the gentlemen above.

That AIC had breached its contract by not disclosing its involvement with FocalPoint. The Judge ruled there was no evidence to support AIPL's assertion that AIC had breached the contract on this point. The judge also ruled that even if AIPL had provided such evidence this would still not have resulted in a breach of the contract as the contract did not in actuallity allow for such a breach based on a plain reading of the contract, so even if AIC had done what it was accused of it still would not have breached the contract as told to us by AIPL, Brad and Vic.
See page 7 lines 6-27 of the attached Judgment.
See page 8 lines 1-19

Also it was clearly pointed out that even if AIC had been DIRECTLY involved with FocalPoint there would have still have been no breach of the contract or the need to disclose.
See page 8 lines 16-22

The court also states there was no fraudulent behavior on the part of AIC therefore it was AIPL that would have to live up to there contractual obligations or basically, it was AIPL not AIC that was not honoring its obligations.
See page 8 line 27
See page 9 lines 1-3

Next AIPL attempted to rescind the AIC's renewal agreement, they attempted to do this by claiming misrepresentation yet they had no actual information to substantiate their claim. Once they had actually gained the all of the information from all parties it was clear that there was still no misrepresentation yet they pressed ahead anyway with a claim that was unsubstantiated.
See page 9 lines 4-26

The courts final findings were that:
1. AIPL's claims against AIC were dismissed
2. That the Master License agreement was valid and binding.
3. That AIC would catch up the royalties it had stopped paying once the lawsuit was launched by AIPL See page 10, lines 3-16
4. That the CCAA or insolvency was essentially caused by AIPL
See page 10, lines 20 and 21

A substantial penalty was meted out to AIPL by the court due to the frivolous and unsubstantiated nature of AIPL's lawsuit. This penalty is uncommon in this type of hearing and therefore costs were awarded to AIC and MFIT because AIPL's claims were so unsubstantiated.
See page 10 lines 17-26

Once again I am ashamed that I believed the lies that were spread about these men the true facts are that they were great supporters and pioneers of the Action system they developed many of the tools and processes that we all use today. They shared freely of any advancements they had created with the entire system, while Brad took credit for their work and sent out their materials and systems as if they were his own.

They gave us the new logo, professional marketing pieces, the twelve week post training program, group coaching, a coach's website which was still better than the one we have today and many, many other improvements to the system. They truly lived with abundance.

When Action USA was struggling they fought for the Masters and Coaches to get proper support from AIPL and in the interim they volunteered to help anyone in need, Masters and Coaches. They spent countless hours coaching, training and supporting Masters not only in the USA but Mexico and Europe they encouraged their coaches as well to help when Brad and AIPL would not send any support and they created a real culture in Action of helping one another. They did all of this at their own expense because they believed in the Action culture statement and actually lived it.

Any of us who attended a Canadian conference knows how genuine AIC was, everyone wanted to emulate their model except AIPL. When the FocalPoint opportunity presented itself they offered to share their good fortune with all of Action once again showing their abundance. Vic and Brad promptly turned them down. AIPL's answer was scarcity in the form of frivolous lawsuits to cause purposeful harm to them and their character.

So what has been the result - Action has lost their soul. They attacked honest men and turned all of those whom they had helped against them by spreading vicious rumors and lies. AIPL was aided by the weak who did not stand up for the very men that had stood up for them. Many coaches took advantage of the lies and situation created by AIPL and refused to pay their royalties. They were abandoned by almost everyone who new them in the Action system save a few that refused to be swayed by the lies. Their reputations have been smeared and many incorrect or scandalous things have been written about them based on AIPL's lies. Their families have been damaged and they have lost untold sums financially because of these lies.

My only way to atone for my shortcomings and behavior is to make sure the Facts were told. I also know when my renewal comes up I will not be rejoining Action. I will be looking for an organization that lives its own culture statement and that has leaders who live it themselves. I will do this in hopes of continuing my coaching career and living the culture with people who actually know what it means.

So what are the ultimate results, what goes around comes around, go to www.franchise50.com you will see the top franchises as voted by the franchisees themselves, you will see that FocalPoint is 11th out of 50 and Action is 39th, culture is everything in our business.

I encourage any of you who were once their friends to let them know, that you now know the truth, better late than never. We have obviously lost out because of the lies and scarcity shown by AIPL and its top Management. See the FACTS go to ey.com/global/content.nsf/Canada/Action once there look under the heading
OTHER COURT MATERIALS: Reasons for judgment dated November 9, 2005

I am sure that there will be many excuses and denials as to what has been said here but the facts are in black and white in the Judgment for all to see. The end result will be, someone else will be blamed, and this is what you would expect from a leadership that lives below the line.

I suggest a review by AIPL and its leaders on these following points of Culture as they seem to have been forgotten or not understood.

# 2 Ownership, # 3 Integrity, # 5 Communication, # 6 Success, # 10 Fun, # 13 Gratitude, # 14 Abundance

Fellow Action Coaches, Master licensees, and Action Employees.

The following details the recent Judgment in the lawsuit between Richard Verkley, Stephen Thompson, Francois Perreault, Action Canada (AIC) and Action Australia PTY (AIPL).

The reason I am sending this today is because I have just recently become aware of the facts behind this lawsuit by receiving the actual final court judgment and I believe we should all be aware of the injustice that has been done.

I am sending this email as well because I am ashamed of the treatment that was given to Richard Verkley, Steve Thompson, Francois Perreault and the AIC staff over this affair. I say this because I believed the lies that were told by Brad Sugars and Vic and others at AIPL that these individuals had broken there contract and had acted illegally. They were also falsely accused of inappropriate use of the Canadian marketing fund by AIPL, and a few Canadian coaches, and especially Jim Argue who's main interest was to discredit them so he could gain control of AI Canada for a fire sale price. These made up allegations have now also been proven to be unfounded. .

I know now from reading the final Judgment available E&Ys website
that none of the things that these men were accused of were true. I also know that AIPL provided no evidence in the trail and never had any evidence to substantiate any of there claims against them.
(Clink link below or paste in browser)
ey.com/global/content.nsf/Canada/Action once there look under the heading
OTHER COURT MATERIALS: Reasons for judgment dated November 9, 2005

The following are the key issues and accusations that were leveled by AIPL against AIC and the gentlemen above.

That AIC had breached its contract by not disclosing its involvement with FocalPoint. The Judge ruled there was no evidence to support AIPL's assertion that AIC had breached the contract on this point. The judge also ruled that even if AIPL had provided such evidence this would still not have resulted in a breach of the contract as the contract did not in actuallity allow for such a breach based on a plain reading of the contract, so even if AIC had done what it was accused of it still would not have breached the contract as told to us by AIPL, Brad and Vic.
See page 7 lines 6-27 of the attached Judgment.
See page 8 lines 1-19

Also it was clearly pointed out that even if AIC had been DIRECTLY involved with FocalPoint there would have still have been no breach of the contract or the need to disclose.
See page 8 lines 16-22

The court also states there was no fraudulent behavior on the part of AIC therefore it was AIPL that would have to live up to there contractual obligations or basically, it was AIPL not AIC that was not honoring its obligations.
See page 8 line 27
See page 9 lines 1-3

Next AIPL attempted to rescind the AIC's renewal agreement, they attempted to do this by claiming misrepresentation yet they had no actual information to substantiate their claim. Once they had actually gained the all of the information from all parties it was clear that there was still no misrepresentation yet they pressed ahead anyway with a claim that was unsubstantiated.
See page 9 lines 4-26

The courts final findings were that:
1. AIPL's claims against AIC were dismissed
2. That the Master License agreement was valid and binding.
3. That AIC would catch up the royalties it had stopped paying once the lawsuit was launched by AIPL See page 10, lines 3-16
4. That the CCAA or insolvency was essentially caused by AIPL
See page 10, lines 20 and 21

A substantial penalty was meted out to AIPL by the court due to the frivolous and unsubstantiated nature of AIPL's lawsuit. This penalty is uncommon in this type of hearing and therefore costs were awarded to AIC and MFIT because AIPL's claims were so unsubstantiated.
See page 10 lines 17-26

Once again I am ashamed that I believed the lies that were spread about these men the true facts are that they were great supporters and pioneers of the Action system they developed many of the tools and processes that we all use today. They shared freely of any advancements they had created with the entire system, while Brad took credit for their work and sent out their materials and systems as if they were his own.

They gave us the new logo, professional marketing pieces, the twelve week post training program, group coaching, a coach's website which was still better than the one we have today and many, many other improvements to the system. They truly lived with abundance.

When Action USA was struggling they fought for the Masters and Coaches to get proper support from AIPL and in the interim they volunteered to help anyone in need, Masters and Coaches. They spent countless hours coaching, training and supporting Masters not only in the USA but Mexico and Europe they encouraged their coaches as well to help when Brad and AIPL would not send any support and they created a real culture in Action of helping one another. They did all of this at their own expense because they believed in the Action culture statement and actually lived it.

Any of us who attended a Canadian conference knows how genuine AIC was, everyone wanted to emulate their model except AIPL. When the FocalPoint opportunity presented itself they offered to share their good fortune with all of Action once again showing their abundance. Vic and Brad promptly turned them down. AIPL's answer was scarcity in the form of frivolous lawsuits to cause purposeful harm to them and their character.

So what has been the result - Action has lost their soul. They attacked honest men and turned all of those whom they had helped against them by spreading vicious rumors and lies. AIPL was aided by the weak who did not stand up for the very men that had stood up for them. Many coaches took advantage of the lies and situation created by AIPL and refused to pay their royalties. They were abandoned by almost everyone who new them in the Action system save a few that refused to be swayed by the lies. Their reputations have been smeared and many incorrect or scandalous things have been written about them based on AIPL's lies. Their families have been damaged and they have lost untold sums financially because of these lies.

My only way to atone for my shortcomings and behavior is to make sure the Facts were told. I also know when my renewal comes up I will not be rejoining Action. I will be looking for an organization that lives its own culture statement and that has leaders who live it themselves. I will do this in hopes of continuing my coaching career and living the culture with people who actually know what it means.

So what are the ultimate results, what goes around comes around, go to www.franchise50.com you will see the top franchises as voted by the franchisees themselves, you will see that FocalPoint is 11th out of 50 and Action is 39th, culture is everything in our business.

I encourage any of you who were once their friends to let them know, that you now know the truth, better late than never. We have obviously lost out because of the lies and scarcity shown by AIPL and its top Management. See the FACTS go to ey.com/global/content.nsf/Canada/Action once there look under the heading
OTHER COURT MATERIALS: Reasons for judgment dated November 9, 2005

I am sure that there will be many excuses and denials as to what has been said here but the facts are in black and white in the Judgment for all to see. The end result will be, someone else will be blamed, and this is what you would expect from a leadership that lives below the line.

I suggest a review by AIPL and its leaders on these following points of Culture as they seem to have been forgotten or not understood.

# 2 Ownership, # 3 Integrity, # 5 Communication, # 6 Success, # 10 Fun, # 13 Gratitude, # 14 Abundance