By Bob Smietana
- December 27, 2023
- 12:30 pm CST
- 16 Comments
Dave Ramsey got good news just before Christmas when a federal judge in Tennessee dismissed a lawsuit this week that had alleged that the Christian personal finance guru had discriminated against an employee’s religion during the COVID-19 pandemic. The employee had also charged that the company had a “cult-like” work environment.
Brad Amos claimed in his suit that leaders of the Lampo Group, the parent company of Ramsey’s media empire, had misled him before he moved from California to Franklin, Tennessee, to work for the company as a video editor. In the federal lawsuit, filed in 2021, Amos’ attorney argued that Amos had been promised a “drama-free, family work environment.” The bosses also told Amos that rumors the company was “cult-like” were untrue.
But once hired, Amos clashed with leaders of the company, also known as Ramsey Solutions, largely over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dave Ramsey wascriticalof pandemic-related shutdowns and required employees to come to the company’s offices to work at a time when many employers were allowing employees to work from home.
Ramsey Solutions did not respond to a request for comment.
Amos’ suit was just one of several in recent years challenging the way Ramsey runs his company — where employees are expected to exhibit “godly living” — but also casting doubt on Ramsey’s concern for his listeners’ financial well-being.
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The company has made headlines in recent years over Ramsey’s views on COVID-19 and the company’s culture, which is influenced by Ramsey’s outspoken Christian faith. Controversies over those rules and how they are appliedcostLampo its one-time status as one of the nation’sbest workplacesand led to at least three lawsuits by former employees.
One lawsuit, filed by a former employee who alleged she was fired for being gay, was settled in 2022, but a discrimination suit filed by Caitlin O’Connor, who was fired after telling her boss she was pregnant before she had married, is still active. Ramsey Solutions has defended its decision to fire O’Connor by saying it fires employees who have sex outside of marriage.
Aclass-action lawsuitwas filed earlier this year by a group of listeners of Ramsey’s daily radio show over the show’s endorsem*nt of a fraudulent timeshare-exit company. The suit alleges that Ramsey was paid millions to endorse Timeshare Exit Team, a now-shuttered Kirkland, Washington, firm that allegedly collected more than $200 million from its clients but failed to free them from their timeshare obligations.
That lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleges that Ramsey continued to back the company even after Washington state regulators had fined the company for fraud, blaming the timeshare company’s legal woes on the timeshare industry.
Along with running a church-based program about finances called “Financial Peace University,” and a popular radio show, Ramsey Solutions givesrecommendationsfor real estate, insurance and mortgage service agencies, deeming them “Ramsey Trusted” providers.
Avideoof Ramsey endorsing Timeshare Exit Team — founded by a pair of former rain gutter salesmen and known officially as Reed Hein LLC — still appears on the Ramsey Show’s YouTube page even though the companyshut downin 2022, months afteragreeing topay a $2.61 million fine to the state and to stop making deceptive claims.
A federal judge out West ruled the class-action lawsuit filed by former listeners of Ramsey’s radio show could go forward.
Ramsey, his company and the Happy Hour Media Group, which marketed the timeshare-exit business, were all named in the lawsuit, which alleges that they violated Washington state’s consumer protection act, engaged in a conspiracy, engaged in negligent mispresenting and misused consumer fees. The lawsuit also alleged that Ramsey and his company unjustly enriched themselves by endorsing the failed timeshare company.
In October, United States District Judge James Robart dismissed the unjust enrichment claim with prejudice but rejected Ramsey’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. An amended complaint in the lawsuit was filed in mid-December.
But most of the legal claims against Ramsey have centered on his management style, which is often guided by his religious beliefs. Amos’ disagreements with Ramsey, for instance, were seen at the company as a sign of spiritual weakness. While Amos claimed in his lawsuit that he had a religious obligation to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines, Ramsey allegedly promoted a faith-over-fear response to the pandemic. When he was demoted, then fired, Amos sued, first in state court and then at the federal level, alleging religious discrimination and claiming that Ramsey had misled him about the company culture.
U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee ruled that Amos’ lawyers had failed to show that he had been misled. Representing a company as drama-free or family-friendly was a statement of opinion, not a promise, the judge ruled.
Richardson also gave little credence to the idea that Amos was misled when Ramsey Solutions leaders denied that the company was cult-like.
Having heard that some people at the company regarded it as such, the judge wrote, “It was not reasonable to rely on contrary opinions from members of the leadership at Lampo — both because these are obviously only opinions about which people might disagree with one another, and because it is an objective reality that little stock can be placed in a company leadership’s denial of unflattering characterizations of the company.”
Richardson also ruled that the plaintiff failed to prove his dispute with Ramsey’s leadership over the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While we respect the court’s decision, we respectfully disagree with the ruling. We plan on appealing the decision to the 6thcircuit,” said Jonathan Street, Amos’ attorney.
Bob Smietana is a national reporter for Religion News Service.
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discussion
16 Responses
On an episode of the Ramsey Show this year (I remember listening to it but can’t recall the exact date), Dave claimed that the big timeshare companies basically sued Timeshare Exit Team into oblivion such that the comparatively small operation was unable to continue their previous record of success at helping people get out of timeshares. I have no idea if this is true, but I’m not the one claiming to be an investigative journalist. My point is that The Roys Deport should do the due diligence to report on this. Dave went on the record with his claim that this was a truthful explanation of the facts. Will Julie investigate this and report on her understanding of all of the relevant facts, or will she completely ignore Dave’s answer? I honestly hope to hear more about this because I want to know what went on.
Reply
Who are theses experts who estimate that 270,000 died from the Covid vaccine? Can you link to their study? Also, can you link to the John Hopkins study? I can’t seem to find it.
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Jane,
A simple google search with terms Johns Hopkins paper lockdown will pull the the links to the paper and the critique.
For starters, it was a working paper (not peer-reviewed). Second, it was not from the medical school, but rather the Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise. Third, the paper was written by 3 economists. And finally, a large portion of the papers referenced in this were working papers themselves.
But then people like Art see something their anti-vax conspiracy bubble and parrot, fancying themselves experts in STEM.
Reply
Charles, before you unfairly label Art with their “anti” term, please read the 87 page request for Grand Jury Summons for criminal investigation sent (so far) to 10 State Governors from National American Renaissance Movement detailing the documented crimes surrounding the Covid-19 “pandemic”.
Here’s Idaho’s pdf:
Reply
Grand juries summons from states like Idaho mean nothing, especially by local gov’t officials that want to boost their cred politically with the Luddite and anti-vax conspiracy kooks. Especially Idaho, where they don’t vaccinate against anything (like measles). Considering the surge in measles cases and other diseases in Idaho, I am not surprised.
Reply
Hi Jane,
To contribute some response to your query.
There is an absolute wealth of information available on YouTube eg Dr John Campbell who was initially annoyed with “antivaxers”, and on Rumble and Telegram.The article here was sent to me today and includes information about excess death figures in OECD countries since rollout of the “Covid-19 vaccinations”.
The countries with the highest percentage of population who were vaccinated are now showing 12% excess deaths.
The countries with fewest percentage of population vaccinated show 0% excess deaths.
Reply
Charmaine – there is no truth in what you are sharing here. The data shows the opposite:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10357837/Reply
Tricia, yes, “their” data (just like “the science” or their science) shows the opposite.
Reply
Of course, you and all the other anti-vaxxers decline to mention that John Campbell is a retired nurse, with his PhD in nursing, not epidemiology, virology, biochemistry, biostatistics, etc. In that case, I suppose you and the other anti-vaxxers would prefer to get your colonoscopy from a podiatrist.
Reply
https://youtu.be/3SI2MS09bGI?si=ZGIm9TVp1yDe2dU7
Dr John Campbell who started on Youtube early in the pandemic examining data. He was vaccinated and angry with “antivaxers.”
He now speaks of increased excess deaths in highly vaccinated countries, following the end of the pandemic. He shows clips of questions raised in UK and European parliament.Questions eg why increased cardiovascular deaths in young people? Interviews vaccinated Dr Aseem Malhotra, British cardiologist who discovered problems and now advocates against the use of vaccines.
Dr Campbell’s most recent post above.In New Zealand, the top administrative scientist Barry Young discovered to his horror clusters of people dying around the same time following vaccination at particular sites.
He has been castigated by the mainstream media and government as a whistle-blower for telling the world of his findings.
He was remanded in custody briefly , released. His ‘crime’ is speaking of the facts.Seeing does not mean believing.
“Fact checker” sites to disparage these views and hold fast to the belief that the vaccine is safe and effective.Interesting local note: My mother’s small church is not holding a service this Sunday because ” too many people have Covid” (as defined by a PCR test).
How can this be if they are all vaccinated with up to 4 boosters?Reply
Charmaine,
Any person who wants to can make a youtube video or write an article. Do you have any peer reviewed articles you can share that have vetted research behind them? I haven’t seen any claiming what you’re claiming.
Vaccines initially had a chance of stopping covid in it’s tracks, but there was enough resistance to allow covid to keep spreading in unvaccinated folks, and mutating, making the spike proteins in each vax and booster less effective against new variants. This is why covid continues to spread- because it’s able to mutate and evade the totally efficacy of vaccines, the same way the flu does each year. Vaccinated people have a far higher survival rate than unvaccinated people.
Reply
“Do you have any peer reviewed articles you can share that have vetted research behind them? I haven’t seen any claiming what you’re claiming.”
https://drtrozzi.org/2023/09/28/1000-peer-reviewed-articles-on-vaccine-injuries/
Reply
Jen, are you familiar with the credentials fallacy? Do you think the chickens should feel comfortable if the health care plan the fox offers is backed by “peer reviewed” science?
Please read the link I posted and see how clearly their own patents (by date and design) condemn themselves. People like Karen Kingston and David Martin have been pointing this out for years now.
Reply
Anybody with a knowledge of statistics knows that clusters don’t mean anything unless other factors are ruled out. Second, the vaccines don’t prevent COVID, they reduce the probability of serious complications and the chances you end up on a ventilator or the ICU. The PCR test detects the presence of the virus, but one also needs to calculate the viral load (something the home tests do not do).
Reply
Grifters gonna grift.
Dave Ramsey is certifiable. He pulled a gun out during a staff meeting because he thought people were gossiping about him. He has zero evidence of the fruit of the spirit about him. And yet Christians flock to him and throw money at him for what is basic economic advice you can get pretty much anywhere. There are far better ways to learn personal economics, many of which don’t use shame as a primary method.
Reply
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