Dave Ramsey Faces $150M Lawsuit

Personal Finance radio host Dave Ramsey is facing a $150 million lawsuit from 17 listeners who claim he played a role in defrauding them by promoting a timeshare exit company, according to The Tennessean.

The lawsuit, filed in April against Ramsey and marketing company Happy Hour Media Group in the Washington Western District Court, argued that the radio host promoted Timeshare Exit Team to the financial detriment of his listeners.

The suit was first reported by Religion News Service.

Roseanne Morrill, a frequent listener of Ramsey's radio show, later heard him talk about how timeshares were a rip-off. But Ramsey said there was a way out of their timeshare contracts, just one way out: the Timeshare Exit Team, which he said would give them a full refund if it couldn't get them out of their financial obligations.

They contacted the Bellevue, Washington-based company off Ramsey's endorsement and were told it'd cost them $40,000 for their services. They paid it.

They never got out of their timeshare contract. And they never got their refund. Ramsey, meanwhile, received millions of dollars from Timeshare Exit Team for endorsing the company on his radio show, podcasts and financial courses, as well as a share of the fees the company received from the customers he referred.

The Morrills, along with 15 others, are suing Dave Ramsey and his company the Lampo Group (now known as Ramsey Solutions), asking for $150 million over accusations of negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment and violation of consumer protection laws. The lawsuit was filed in late April in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, where the Timeshare Exit Team was located.

The plaintiffs, each of whom paid thousands to the Timeshare Exit Team based on Ramsey's advice, say that Ramsey did or should have known better than to endorse the company. They also say Ramsey's advertising was deceptive, alleging he failed to disclose that he was receiving compensation for the endorsements and that he misrepresented the advertisements as bona fide advice.